The Ranger And The Rose
by Soul's Release
Summary: My name is Bastion Ranger, and I am a student at Beacon Academy where I am training to become a Hunter. And this... is the story of how my life was uprooted by a young rose with silver eyes. This is the story of my life after I met Ruby Rose. Rated T for violence, swearing, blood, death, and adult themes. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (On hiatus)
1. Bastion Ranger

**A/U I do not own RWBY or any of the Characters except for a select few that will be revealed as the story progresses. This is a new project I am starting as an alternative to my Halo Fanfic. Please enjoy!.**

My name is Bastion Ranger, and I am a student at Beacon Academy where I am training to become a Hunter. And this... is the story of how my life was uprooted by a young rose with silver eyes. This is the story of my life after I met Ruby Rose.

It all started about a week and a half after I was... well for lack of a better term, born. Yeah, I'm not entirely human. I have never been told what I am. I was just suddenly alive I guess in the middle of a destroyed city, with a whole childhood worth of knowledge. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out about the whole thing. I was laying in my home in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, reading an old moldy book when I heard a snapping noise from outside. Something was coming. Immediately I was alert and ready to run from any Grimm that had found me. As I crouched behind an old sofa, I waited for the animal to come inside the door, but as I peeked over the top with my black eyes I saw not a Grimm, but a woman standing in my home. At least I thought it was a woman. Her skin was as white as the moon with no color in it. She wore a long dress that went clear to the floor. But her most interesting feature was the red symbols that adorned her white face. They looked like the symbols that would normally be found on a creature of Grimm. As I examined her, she looked around the room and made an audible groan of disgust. I quickly hid behind the sofa again as she turned towards my direction.

"You can come out of your hiding place, boy," she said in a cool, creepy voice.

I sat there with my eyes closed and didn't move, hoping that she would leave me be. But I was suddenly surprised when she appeared in front of me and grabbed my wrist. As pain shot through my arm, I opened my eyes to see a look of annoyance upon the woman's face.

"I said you can come out of your hiding place. Didn't you hear me, or are you deaf, boy?" She asked with a frown.

"I heard you, lady. I was ignoring you. Leave me alone. Or you'll be sorry," I said with a glare as I attempted to wrestle my arm from her grasp.

She just laughed at me. "If you want, I will gladly leave you be alone in this graveyard. But I have a proposition for you if you are interested." She let go of my arm and watched as I walked over to my book and opened it up again.

"Well, that depends on the proposal you have in mind."

I cringed as she set her hand on my shoulder and smiled as she walked around the sofa to face me. "Do you like it here? Because if you wish, I can give you a home and a place where you will be taken care of. A place that isn't infested with Grimm. All you need to do is one small favor for me."

I thought a moment about her offer as I looked at myself and my current situation. I was extremely malnourished and covered in blood and dirt. And I lived in an old office building. It sounded like a miracle, to not need to fight for everything against the Grimm. I wanted- no I needed out of this place.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked with wide eyes.

She smiled as spoke. "That's easy. At the Beacon Academy, there is a girl with silver eyes. She is a threat to the world, and she plans on destroying the very foundation of civilization. I need you to kill her before she can."

"Okay. I will do it. But how will I get there?" I asked her.

And with a snap of her fingers I was suddenly on a plane in a new set of clothes, clean and healthy looking.

 _'What the hell? That was weird.'_ I thought as I looked at my new outfit. I was now wearing a pair of brown leather pants with a pair of steel boots. To accommodate the pants, I also wore a black t-shirt with a black vest with a silver metal bulls- eye emblazoned on the upper right portion of it. As I walked around the plane I noticed a metal thumping noise every time I took a step. I reached around my torso and was startled to find a metal instrument slung across my back. As I grabbed it, I noticed a distinct round button on one side. Curious, I pressed it and in lighting speed the object transformed into a 5" long pole with what looked like a crescent attached to the top. It was as black as my eyes and as light as a feather.

 _"Woooow, this thing is pretty nifty..."_

I pressed the button again and the weapon transformed back into its compact form. As I slung it across my chest I noticed the plane was touching down. I turned and saw the Academy as the boarding ramp opened.

 _'Well, here goes nothing. Time to find the bringer of the apocalypse and keep her from destroying the world. So if I fail... No pressure.'_

* * *

 **-2 DAYS LATER-**

It had been an hour after I arrived at the cliffs, when the headmaster of the school arrived himself with the rest of the new students behind him. He looked at me as he approached.

"Here a little early, are we?" he asked.

I grinned as I watched the others stand upon metals platforms that were near the edge. There were 12 of them, a short energetic girl with bright pink hair, a boy who looked like he was bored out of his mind, a very tall girl with red hair and golden armor, a boy who looked like he was going to hurl from nervousness, a girl who wore a black and white corset with a black bow on her head, and... The next girl made me do a double take. She wore a black dress with red trim and a matching black belt. She had a silver medal of a rose on her belt. And on her shoulders was a red hood. But the thing that surprised me was her face, she looked young. Very young, in fact; she had black hair with rose red tips, and her eyes were silver.

I was stunned to say the least. Was this the girl who I had been sent after? I mean, how could her, that young innocent little girl want to destroy everything? She barely looked capable of hurting a fly. She was smiling and practically skipping as she walked. I was tore from my thoughts as the headmaster began to explain the initiation test.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest. You are to find the ancient ruins within the forest and retrieve a relic. After which you are to proceed to the extraction point that was sent to your scrolls this morning. Upon entrance to the forest, you will be partnered with the first person you come into contact with," He paused and took a sip of the coffee he was holding. "Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die," He finished and pressed a series of buttons on a tablet.

One of the others, the nervous boy, spoke up. "Um, sir, how will we get there?"

"You will need to form a landing strategy in order to land safely.

The boy made a face of shock. "Um, land? You have any tips?"

"No, you will be using your own landing strategy."

I didn't hear anymore as the platform I was standing on activated and sent me soaring into the air.

"HOLY SHIIIIIIT!" I yelled as I flew.

I fell for a while and tried to somehow, to keep myself upright, but as I neared the ground my hopes of safety vanished. It was then that everything went black as i hit a tree.

* * *

 **Alright! I feel good about this. This is only my second fanfic, but I'm confident that this will be good. I know that some people will be like. _"Wait, a minute, Salem didn't know about Ruby until later."_ Or _"Why, did you make the main characters' weapon a scythe like Ruby's?"_ Well, the reason I did those this is 1) I wanted to make it seem as if Salem knew more about Ruby and the gang, but didn't really consider her much of a threat, yet. 2) I wanted Bastion to be able to relate to Ruby somewhat. I know that someone will say that it's a stupid idea, but I just need you guys to trust me. I've got it covered. And before the next chapter, I would like to make one thing clear: I will be altering the rules of the teams, slightly.**

 **Anyways, feel free to leave me a comment or any ideas you have. Also, the first 3 people to leave a review and a description about a character that they would like me to implement, will get an OC dedicated to them.**


	2. The Confrontation

_Darkness, Death, Despair, Blood, and Her..._

 _I watched in horror as the school burned. There were bodies everywhere, pools of blood seeping into the grass. And that girl was the cause of it all. She sat atop a mountain of debris. Before her were the distinct outlines of the headmaster and the woman who had helped me. I looked up and saw her smiling wickedly at me holding my weapon. She was petting it. I started running towards her, hatred seeping from me. I had to stop her._

 _As I got closer, I was knocked from my feet as and Ursa barreled into me. I looked at my side and found myself bleeding. The Ursa had tore my skin and broken two of my ribs. As I struggled to my feet, I felt a shiver run down my spine as I noticed she was gone. I panicked, looking for her. That was when I felt agonizing pain in my left leg as I fell to the ground. Looking at my legs I saw that my leg had been cut at the knee. I looked up and saw the end of my scythe covered in blood. Then she stepped in front of me smiling again, and she was giggling._

 _"Why? Why are you doing this!?" I yelled in fear._

 _She didn't answer, she only rose my scythe above her head and brought it down, all the while laughing silently._

* * *

"NOO!"

I shot up, with utter terror on my face as I woke up. It was only a nightmare. I felt my body parts, making sure I was in one piece. I felt my head and pulled my hand away as I felt a warm liquid on my forehead. My hand was covered in blood; I wiped my hand on my pants and stood up, relying on a nearby tree to maintain my balance. Making sure I was okay, I began to explore the forest, hoping to find either that girl, or anyone else so I wasn't alone. I didn't want to risk being by myself when, and if I stumbled upon my target.

I walked for about 15 minutes before I heard a rustling noise ahead of me. Instinct kicked in and I grabbed my scythe and brought it to full form. Whatever was ahead was going to be in for a surprise if it thought I was going to kill me. I waited for a few minutes and braced myself as a bush began to move and I saw a foot emerge.

 _Survival, that's all that matters! You cant save the world if you're dead._

In a blur of motion, I raised my weapon over my shoulder and ran at the new presence.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO WIN AGAINST ME!" I yelled as I swung. But I was shocked when i was stopped dead in my tracks as my weapon clashed with another.

I looked at my scythe and was shocked to see another _red_ scythe blocking mine. I followed the handle to see the wielder, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. There standing in front of me, holding a scythe identical to mine, was the girl. She had a face of surprise on her face.

"Wait, wait! I'm on your side!" She yelled at me trying to keep me from hurting her.

I pushed harder against her trying to kill her, but she was strong. "No, you're not. I know what you're planning to do," I said through clenched teeth. "And. I. WON'T! LET! YOU!" I stopped pushing for a moment and attempted to wrestle her scythe away from her, but in an instant she was gone. I felt a pain in the back of my head. I spun and saw her standing behind me, her hand clenched into a fist. I raised my weapon again, but she did the same with hers and a gunshot rang out. My scythe was wrenched from my hands as she jumped up and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying.

"What are you talking about?" she asked with sincere curiosity apparent in her voice.

I struggled to me feet and spit out a bit of blood. As I looked at her, I glared at my weapon which was easily fifty feet away. "I know what you plan to do. You're going to try and destroy civilization. But the white woman and I won't let you. I'm going to stop you!" I charged at her with my fists and tried to hit her, only to get blasted into another tree.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" I heard another voice say. I looked to my left and saw another girl with blond hair running towards the girl.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but this guy is crazy! He's trying to kill me, Yang!"

I finally stood back up and looked directly at the new girl. My vision became blurred and I realized that I was bleeding in my side. One of them had shot me.

The girl known as 'Yang,' looked at me with rage in her eyes. "What's your problem? Don't you have something better to do than try and kill my sister, ya creep."

I readied my hands as I prepare to fight the two girls. "You don't understand! She's going to kill us all." I began to get dizzy. I grabbed my side and saw that the bullet wound was gushing blood. I looked back at the threat. "I-I have... to s-s-stop... he..."

The last thing I saw was my target running to me, she was going to kill me.

 _Great... Well, at least you won't be awake when you go..._

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

As the strange boy fell, I dropped Crescent Rose and ran over to help him. Sure he had just tried to kill me, but I couldn't just let him die.

"Ruby, what are you doing? Wasn't that guy trying to kill you, like 60 seconds ago?"

I looked at Yang with desperation. "Yang, we can't just let him die. Help me save him! Bring me something to cover this wound."

My sister only stared at me. I didn't blame her. What was I thinking trying to save someone who tried to end my life? I didn't know what to do. I looked down at the boy; the color was quickly leaving his face as his life was slowly slipping away. I looked back at Yang, who just raised her hands in defeat. She pulled a bunch of workout wrapping tape out of her pocket and walked over.

"Fine, I'll help, but this guy has some serious explaining to do when he wakes up."

"Okay," I replied. I lifted his shirt so I could get to the bullet wound better and saw something odd. On his stomach was an image. It looked like a brand, it was in the shape of the stem of a rose. The mark was black and the thorns on the image were raised above the skin slightly. I reached my hand out to feel and was shocked to find that it was cold as ice. It was weird. I decided to investigate later and returned my attention to the much more pressing mater at hand. I looked at the wound and saw the distinct pellets of one of Yang's shotgun shells.

"Yang, I need you to hold his shirt while I pick out the pieces of the bullet."

Yang nodded and took the cloth in her hand as I reached my fingers into to hole.

"Be careful, sis," my sister warned.

I felt around for the pellets, and after about 5 minutes I finally pulled the 6th and final piece out of the boy's stomach.

"There. All done, Yang hand me the tape," I said as I shook some of the blood off of my hands.

As I took the tape from my sister I saw the boy flinch and groan. I winced as I thought about how much pain he must me in.

"I'm so sorry," I said as I began to bandage him the best I could. I was careful to not cover the marking on his belly, I wanted to look at it more, later. I finished wrapping the tape and looked at the boy again.

As I stood and walked over to the weapon that belonged to the boy, his words began to playback in my mind.

 _'You're going to try and destroy civilization. But the white woman and I won't let you.'_

The white woman? Who was he talking about? And who told him that lie about me?

I examined the black scythe closely. It looked exactly like _my_ Crescent Rose. Every detail was the same, except for one. On my scythe there was a rose symbol. But this one? It shared the same mark as the one on the boys' belly. I removed the magazine from it and was stunned to see it full of fire dust infused rounds. I wondered if he even knew how to fully use the weapon.

"Hey, Ruby, are you okay?"

Yang's voice tore me from my thoughts. I turned and looked at her while still holding the replica scythe. "Yang, look at this. I don't know how, but that boy has an exact duplicate of Crescent Rose," I said as I handed it to her. "How is that possible? I've never shown anyone how I made mine, but this thing works just like it."

Yang looked at the weapon and frowned. "I don't know, Ruby. But I think we need to tell Ozpin what happened. I don't think he'll make it if we don't."

I looked back at the stranger. I had a bad feeling that this was only the start of something very big, and very bad."

* * *

 **Whoo... That was tense. So Ruby and Bastion fought for a bit and then Yang came and kicked some ass. And Ruby found a very interesting detail about her attacker, what does the Rose-Stem mean? And why is there an exact replica of Crescent Rose? All of this and more will be revealed next time on: The Lone Ranger: A RWBY Story.**

 **Okay, I know that was almost as bad as Yang's puns. But I thought it would be _punny_. Get it? Instead of funny I said punny? Nothing?  
-SIGH-  
Okay, I'll stop.**

 **But seriously, thanks for reading and go ahead and leave a review.**

 **I'll See You Starside**

 **Soul's Release**


	3. Comatose

**Unknown POV**

I walked through the dark hallways of the fortress. The fight between the two had ended in disaster. If that damned boy wouldn't have hesitated, the girl would be dead and then our goal would be one step closer. but no, he messed up and now he was in the hospital and the girl had found the mark. I growled in frustration as a Beowulf passed me, it stopped to look at me and as I result ended up getting its skull cave in by my fist. Now slightly more relaxed, I continued into the gathering room, where Salem, Cinder, and a few others waited.

"It's nice of you to join us," Salem said as I took a seat in the chair closest to the door. She sat at the other end of the table and was showing no emotion as I rolled my eyes and put my feet on the table.

"Whatever, you could've started without me." I replied.

Salem said nothing. Instead, she looked at Cinder. "I trust Torchwick is nearing the end of phase 1?" she asked the woman.

Cinder, or Flamethrower as I liked to call her, nodded. "Yes, he is confident that he will be successful in gaining the aid of the White Fang. After that it is only a matter of time until he gathers the necessary dust for the train in Mountain Glenn."

"Excellent." Salem now looked at me. "And what about our little protege? I trust he was able to eliminate the girl?"

I groaned. "No, he was unfortunately defeated by her and her sister. He's not dead, but they did find it."

Salem raised an eyebrow at this. "They what?"

"You heard me. Turns out your little freak got his ass kicked. And then to top it all off, she found the mark on his damned stomach," I said getting annoyed. "I told you to send me, instead. But you insisted that he could do it, and now we may have lost our key instrument."

Salem looked pissed. I obviously struck a nerve. "Listen to me, you little, BITCH!"

Uh oh...

"I don't care what you say. I have given him everything he needs to complete his task. All he needs is a little motivation and he will see it through." She seemed to calm down. "After all, if he does, actually, fail, I will kill him myself."

I shivered at the thought of Salem being the last thing the freak saw. "Well, then what do you want me to do, oh mighty leader of ours?"

"Simple. You are going to give him the motivation he needs. Take one of the scythes and make him realize that she is a monster. Make him feel that without a doubt, she won't hesitate to kill him."

I grinned. Finally I get to have some fun.

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

 _Ruby just continued to torture me. I was forced to endure every moment of the pain as she used my weapon to slice bits of flesh off of my body. I was unable to move as my legs had been broken long ago. All I could do was scream._

 _"Why should I? Playing with you is so much fun Bastion," Ruby said as she smiled at her work._

 _"You're insane! You can't do this!"_

 _She used the scythe to cut me again. "But I can, and I will. After all everyone you knew is dead anyways." She laughed at me again._

 _"P-please, just stop! It hurts! Just STOOOOOP!"_

* * *

I woke with a scream.

Immediately I was met with hands holding me down.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Relax! You're safe now," Said a somewhat familiar voice.

I slowed my breathing slightly as I tried to recognize the voice. My head hurt, so thinking was hard and painful. It took me a few minutes but I finally recognized the voice.

 _RUBY..._

I turned my head and saw her sitting next to me with a worrisome look on her face. I immediately screamed and tried to get away, but I couldn't move my hands. I looked down to see my hands were restrained to a hospital bed. I also noticed a very large bandage covering my right rib cage. Then everything came back, including the pain. I winced as the wound felt like it was on fire. I fell backwards in the bed with my eyes closed.

"A-are you okay?"

I looked at Ruby. She actually looked genuinely concerned, like she wasn't wanting me dead. I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just in a lot of pain. But why do you care, I mean, you're probably here to kill me anyways."

She cocked her head to the side and gave me a quizzical look. "No, I'm not. It was my idea to bring you here. After Yang shot you, I pulled all of the shotgun pellets out of you and bandaged you up. Then I called Professor Ozpin so he could come and get us."

Now it was my turn to look confused. "Y-you did that? Even after I tried to kill you? Why?"

"I'm not sure, but you made me feel like I'd met you before. But then I saw that mark on your stomach." She pointed to the stem on my body. "What is it? And why was it cold when I touched it?"

My eyes went huge. "You touched that thing?!"

"Yeah, I was curious. Why, is it dangerous?" she asked.

"I don't know, but the last time I touched it, I passed out for 3 hours."

Ruby immediately looked concerned. "That didn't happen to me. I wonder why." She looked at her hand and then at me. "Earlier, when you attacked me, you said that you and 'the white woman' were going to stop me from destroying the world. Who is she?"

"I don't really know. I only met her a couple of days before I came here."

"Before you came here?"

I nodded. "She saved me from where I used to live, in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. She told me that if I killed the girl with silver eyes, she would help me."

Ruby just stared at me some more. "That's weird." she sat quietly for a moment and then stood up straight and looked towards the opposite side of the room.

Professor Ozpin and her assistant stood in the doorway and stared at the two of us. They then both walked towards the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked me.

I blinked. "Um, I hurt all over, but I'm otherwise okay, I guess."

He pushed his odd shaped glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "Young Ruby here hasn't left your side since you were brought back from the forest. She insisted on being the first one to see you awake."

I looked at Ruby again and saw her blushing a bit.

Ozpin continued. "You owe her your life, you know. If it wasn't for her quick action, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But I need to know why you attacked her like you did."

I felt my heart race. I was sure to be punished severely if I told the truth, so I decided to lie.

"I ate a few poisonous berries in the forest. They must've caused be to hallucinate making me think she was a Grimm."

Ozpin stared at me as if staring into my very being. He finally spoke. "Well, you had best be careful the next time you decide to eat wild berries in the forest, young man."

I internally breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay. Will do, thank you sir. Um, can I get out of these restraints. They are starting to hurt."

Ozpin's assistant walked over and released my hands. I began rubbing my wrist. "Thank you."

"Professor Ozpin, what team will Bastion be assigned to, since he was unable to finish the initiation?" Ruby said from my left.

"That's a good question, Miss Rose. I suppose it is up to him, where he would like to be placed.

I looked at them all. I was actually going to be allowed to attend the academy, even though I didn't finish initiation.

"I want to be on Ruby's team."

They all looked at me in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Ozpin asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I feel safe around her."

Ruby looked at me in shock to what I had said.

"Very well. I will have it arranged for you to join her team immediately."

After that Ozpin and his assistant left. But Ruby remained staring at me. "Why, did you ask to join my team?

I looked at her. She wore the same expression as when I had woken up. "Because, I feel like I would really be better off with you as a teammate."

At that point I swung my legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand but almost fell forward. Luckily Ruby was there to catch me.

"Be careful, Bastion, you might still be a bit dizzy. You could hurt yourself.

"Thanks Ruby." I gestured over to my clothes that sat on a table. "Can you grab my clothes for me?"

She smiled. "Sure."

In those few moments, time seem to stop. She let go of me, and turned around to grab my clothes, and I almost fell. But as I grabbed the side of the bed with my hands, the sheet that had been over my torso fell, leaving me exposed.

"Shit!" I hissed.

"Whats wrong, Bastion?" Ruby asked as she turned around.

 _Son. Of. A. Bitch. Why was Karma such a cold-hearted bitch._

Ruby froze and dropped the clothes. I froze, unsure of what to do. We both stood there a moment as both of our brains processed what had just happened.

Ruby spoke first, but she didn't say what I expected. "Bastion, look at your stomach!" She pointed at the black mark on my torso.

I looked down and saw that it had begun to glow and stretch upwards towards my chest. "What the hell? What's it doing?!" It was then that it began to burn, bad. I fell forward gripping my gut. Everything started to spin. Colors began to blur, and eventually I succumbed to the pain and fell into the unconsciousness that clawed at me.

"Bastion!"

It was the last thing I heard.

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

I stood there as I saw Bastion completely exposed. I felt uneasy and wanted to turn and run, but then something happened, something bad. The mark on his torso began changing. "Bastion, look at your stomach!" I yelled as I pointed at the distorting black rose stem on his skin.

Bastion looked at the mark. "What the hell? What's it doing?!"he yelled.

I was scared, it was changing, and I was unsure what to do. Then Bastion fell to his knees as he gripped his stomach.

"Bastion!" I screamed his name as he started convulsing. "Stop! Bastion can you hear me? Bastion!"

His body started twitching and bending in unnatural ways. I saw his eyes glaze over as a liquid started pouring from his mouth. I tried to shake him, hoping I could get through, but he didn't respond. I panicked and in a span of a few seconds, I grabbed his clothes and picked him up. Determined to get him somewhere safe, I tapped into my semblance. In a flash of rose petals we left the hospital and were at Beacon in a matter of minutes. I didn't stop though, I instead kept going and continued running towards the one safe place I knew.

My teams' dorm.

* * *

 **Yang's POV**

I looked at my two teammates who were busy doing their own thing. The only one who wasn't present was our leader.

My little sister.

As I fell back onto my bunk bed, I began to worry if I had killed the boy who had attacked Ruby.

 _So what if I did kill him. He attacked Ruby. Nobody messes with my baby sis._

As I sighed, I heard rapid footsteps outside the door. They stopped and I heard a few low noises, followed by a frantic knocking sound. I hopped down from my bed and walked towards the door and unlocked it. As I turned the handle the door was slammed open as a blur of rose petals entered the room. It was Ruby. When she finally stopped moving I noticed two things: 1) the bottom of her dress was covered in what looked like a mixture of blood and bile. 2) she was carrying the boy from the woods. Everyone in the room looked at her as she placed him on the ground.

Weiss was the first to react.

"What the hell, Ruby? Why did you bring him here? Isn't he the one who attacked you in the Emerald Forest?

Ruby just looked at us in terror. "Guys, something's wrong! He passed out and then he started twitching. He won't answer me, I don't know what to do."

We all just stood there as we looked at the boy. He was indeed twitching, violently. His eyes were glazed over and his mouth was wide open as the same fluid that was on Ruby's dress, flowed out of him like a river.

"Why did you bring him here? He was at the hospital right?" I asked.

Ruby nodded. "I didn't want to leave him there. Not after the things he told me."

Blake finally spoke up. "I'll go and get Ren, he might be able to help." And with that she ran out of the room.

Ruby remained on the floor with him and stared at the weird mark on his belly. It was different now. Instead of the simple stem of a rose, like it was before, it was much bigger. Now it looked like an entire thornbush with the thorns a dark red color. And now it covered his entire chest and stomach.

 _ **SNAP**_

His entire body stopped moving suddenly. The fluid stopped flowing and his eyes closed. His face remained in a pained face of agony, but overall he looked okay.

"Bastion?" I heard Ruby say his name.

I walked over to her and knelt down beside her. "Is he...?"

Ruby didn't answer. she just sat there, waiting for something to happen.

It was then that Blake and Ren entered the room. Ruby looked up at them in earnest. I pulled her away from the boy and held her as Ren did his work.

* * *

 **Unknown POV**

I watched as the children attended to the boy.

"That's it go ahead, help the little freakshow, see what happens," I chuckled to myself.

I looked back through the binoculars as the newer boy hovered his hands over the boy. Then there was a bright brown light. It filled the room and blinded me temporarily. It was only when I regained my vision, that I realized what had happened.

The boy shared his aura with the little monster, and in turned unlocked his.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I said as I dropped the binoculars.

 _Salem is not going to like this..._

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

As the light dimmed, I looked at Bastion, fearing the worst. I slipped from Yang's arms and dropped to my knees as I grabbed him.

"Bastion, wake up. Come on, get up!" I was shaking his body as i yelled.

Nothing.

 _Please wake up._

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

 _Darkness. Darkness everywhere. It was all around me. It gripped onto every part of my body. It was in my mind, my chest, everywhere. All I could feel was a crushing darkness. I felt strangely at peace. I should have been terrified. But I was as calm as could be. Then I heard the voice._

 _'You don't belong with them.'_

 _I looked around, I could see anything but the darkness._

 _'You belong with me, here in the confines of your curse.'_

 _I spun around and yelled. Behind me there was a huge red crystal shaped like a rose sitting atop a long slender black one._

 _"What are you!?"I yelled._

 _"I am the reason you exist. Now embrace your fate." With that my ears started ringing and I fell to my knees._

 _"NOOOOOO! STOP IT, LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

 _After I finished shouting, the voice once again boomed in my ears._

 _"If you will not submit, then she WILL!"_

* * *

 **And that is the end of chapter 3. So yeah, now we know a little bit more about Bastion. He and Ruby had an awkward moment, that was soon replaced by Bastion having a seizure of sorts. BTW the last section in Bastion's point of view takes place during the entire time he is passed out. So there's that in case anyone was confused. Also we met a few of the people who mean to do harm to our gang of misfits. And in case anyone is clueless as to who the voice was referring to, pay attention. I spelled it out as clear as day... Sheesh...**

 **Also, I will be making slight adjustments to the RWBY story in order to accommodate my new twist.**

 **Anyways, enough rambling. Please feel free to leave a review.**

 **Soul's Release**


	4. Rage Awakened

**Ruby's POV**

It had been 3 days since I had brought Bastion to Beacon. The entire time he had been unconscious. The first night was weird. Yang and I had attempted to dress him in his clothes, but we ended up almost tearing his shirt, so we just put a pair of pajamas on him that Jaune let us use. That night I decided he could use my bed, while I slept on the floor. It was cold, but I didn't care, I just wanted him to wake up.

By day 3 he still made no signs of change, he still was pale and clammy, breathing small labored breaths. Team JNPR had visited, too. When they had asked what Bastion was doing, I decided to tell them what had happened. They all listened, but Jaune was the only one who looked stunned. But we all ended up agreeing that between the 8 of us, we would all help watch over him. That night, he finally made signs that he was alive.

I woke up late in the early hours of the morning. I had been doing so the last few days, in order for me to clean his face, since he was constantly sweating. I sat up and stretched, but then as I got up off of the ground I heard him groan. Excitement rushed through me as I immediately went and grabbed his hand. As I looked at him I noticed for the first time in days, he actually had some color in his face.

"Bastion?" I whispered, hoping he would wake up. "Hey, Bastion. Wake up, come on."

He stirred in his sleep, made a few noises and then was still. He didn't move anymore. I decided to give up for now, and prepared for the day ahead.

 **2 Hours Later...**

I walked out of the walk in closet, ready for the day. I sighed, as I looked over at Bastion's still sleeping form. I sighed, and grabbed Crescent Rose.

"Are you okay, Ruby?"

I looked to see Weiss staring at me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm just worried about him."

Yang slapped my shoulders. "I'm sure he'll be fine, Rubes. After all he's got the best person I know watching him," she said with a smile.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Who's that?"

Yang just laughed and poked me on the forehead. "You, dummy. I was talking about you."

Everyone giggled at me as I rubbed my forehead. "Okay, you're probably right." I placed Crescent Rose on my back and looked back at my team. "Well, we had better get a move on if we don't want to be late for class." And with that, we all exited the room.

As I left, I looked back at Bastion one more time, I frowned.

 _Please wake up..._

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

 _'Bastion...'_

 _I looked around. I was in the Emerald Forest. There was blood and fire everywhere. I could smell the distinct smell of a rose. I looked around hoping to find the source. I stopped and stared at the ground. Laying on the ground was Ruby's scythe, broken and shattered in a bunch of pieces. And next to the metal fragments were ribbons of red cloth. It was her hood, torn and bloodied._

 _"RUBY! Where are you?" I screamed in fear._

 _"Bastion, help me!"_

 _I spun around hoping to see her, but instead I saw a trail of blood and rose petals leading off further into the forest. I ran, following the trail. I had to find her. As I ran, I noticed the smell was getting stronger. I eventually came to a clearing and saw a large group of stone pillars. But it wasn't the ruins that caught my attention. It was what was laying on the ground amidst them that struck me with fear._

 _Ruby was laying on her front, her body looking broken. I immediately ran up to her to help, but found myself unable to move as a reached her. I looked at her and yelled._

 _"Ruby! Ruby, get up!"_

 _Her small body began to move, slowly at first, but then she was standing straight and facing away from me._

 _"Ruby, are you okay? Help me, we need to get out of here."_

 _I heard her laugh at me. "Why? Why should I help you? You left me alone with that monster as it tortured me. I should leave you here to burn." She turned to face me and I was frightened by what I saw. Her usually, soft friendly face was wrong. She looked as though she had been burned repeatedly, and I could only stare as she walked away._

 _"Wait, Ruby! Don't leave me here! Please!"_

 _She ignored me and continued to walk away. I screamed as the flames surged and enveloped my body._

 _"RUUUUBYYYY!"_

* * *

My eyes shot open. The first thing I saw was wood. Dark oak sat suspended above me. I rubbed my eyes trying to focus my blurred vision. Another nightmare, why was this happening to me? Was I losing my mind? I sat up and realized I was in a soft bed covered by white silk blankets. Wherever I was, it seemed safe. I pulled the covers off of myself and saw a pair of blue pajamas on myself, worst of all there was a rabbit's face on the front.

"What the hell?" I said to myself quietly.

I got up from the bed and looked around. I was in a room that looked like a bedroom for 4. There were 2 sets of bunk beds in the room and 3 doors. Curious, I decided to open one. Inside were dozens of outfits. They were girl's outfits mostly, but there was one that stood out. I reached in and grabbed one of the hangers, on it were my clothes, clean. The bullet hole was gone, and it smelled like a spring day. Someone had taken the time to fully repair _and_ clean my clothes. I took them off the hanger and closed the closet door. As I walked to one of the other doors, I struggled to remove the small pajamas. They were tight and difficult to remove, but after a few minutes I had them off. I opened the next door and was greeted by a clean white bathroom. Inside were a few toiletries, a bathtub, a rather large vanity, and a toilet. I walked up to the mirror above the sink and was shocked at myself.

The mark on my stomach had changed. It was a different shape, and it was bigger. It was now in the shape of a rosebush, whose thorns were a dark red color. I traced my fingers across the surface and was startled when I found it painful to the touch. I decided to leave it alone and get dressed. It was then that I realized that the bullseye that once adorned my vest was now the same as the mark. It too, had changed. Finally I was fully clothed and I left the bathroom. I looked at a small clock on a desk and saw what time it was: 12:33pm. It was in the middle of the day, yet nobody was here. Looking around the room, I decided to try and find someone. I saw my scythe leaning against my boots next to the closet. I retrieved my boots and grabbed my weapon. As I opened the 3rd door, I slung my weapon across by body and stepped into the hall. Nobody was there. It was silent, except for the low sounds of combat.

 _Grimm? In the school? I have to go find Ruby._

I ran down the hall and followed the noises. Eventually I came to a large metal door and stopped. I leaned my head against the door. Beyond the door, I heard the unmistakable sound of gunfire. I braced myself and slowly opened the door. I saw a huge room with a glass dome in the middle. People surrounded it and gasped at what was happening within. As I closed the door, I saw a few people glance my direction, but none really did anything. They just continued watching as I got closer. I peered into the glass and saw a few people fighting each other. I was able to recognize only 2 people. Yang, Ruby's sister, the one who had shot me. And Ruby. She moved gracefully, swinging her scythe at a couple of others.

"What's going on?" I asked aloud.

A boy with orange hair turns and glares at me as if I had a second head. "What does it look like? They're sparring, idiot. Now shut up and buzz off."

I frowned and stared at him as he turned away. I continued to watch. For some reason, watching the fight tugged at my mind. Then I heard the voice again.

 _"It thrills you to see fighting, doesn't it? To watch and realize that, with the slightest miscalculation, one of them would be dead. It makes you excited, doesn't it?"_

My eyes shot open, there it was again. My head was filled with the same ringing as earlier. I grabbed my head and stepped away from the crowd.

"What? No! Get out of my head!" I hissed under my breath.

 _"I belong here, with you. I am your only true friend. They don't care about you. They barely even know you. What makes you think they would accept you?"_

I closed my eyes, hoping the noise would stop and the voice would go away. "I said stop!" With that I screamed and grabbed my weapon, transforming it as I snapped.

 _"There you go, see? Isn't it better to let your rage out? Now then, how about you do a little_ sparring _of your own?"_

I lost it. In a blind fury I ran back into the room and swung my scythe at the glass, shattering it instantly. As I jumped into the arena, all I saw was Ruby. She just stood there in shock as I fell, weapon at the ready. With absolute rage in my eyes.

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

The fight was going well. Yang and I were winning, while Russel and Sky of team CRDL were getting their butts kicked. It was fun. I dodged one of Russel's attacks and parried as I brought Crescent Rose down and wrenched his daggers out of his hands. Then Yang came over and punched him in the gut, sending him flying towards the wall.

"Nice one Yang!" I cheered.

My sister just smiled and flexed her muscles. "Yeah, you too, sis!"

As I got ready to finish off Sky, I heard a bloodcurdling scream from above. I gazed up and saw everyone run as the glass dome was shattered. Then I saw the familiar shape of Bastion jump over the railing and land in front of all of us with his scythe extended. I couldn't believe it, he was awake!

"Bastion! You're okay!" I ran over to him to give him a hug, but was stopped as Yang grabbed my hood.

"Ruby, stop. Something's wrong. Look at him." She said pointing.

I looked at him and saw something horrifying. His eyes weren't their usual black color, instead the were bright red, almost the color of Grimm. Besides his eyes, his body was different, his clothes were emblazoned with a bright red rosebush design as if the mark underneath was burning through the cloth. And his face was one of pure hatred.

"B-bastion? Are you o-okay?" I asked scared.

He looked around the arena, as if searching for something. Then he stopped as his gaze rested on me.

"Ruby... There you are. I was worried you left me alone." He gripped his scythe tighter and looked at mine, then me again. "I'm going to need your scythe."

I looked Crescent Rose, then back at him. "No. You need to stop. You need to rest."

He frowned at my response. "Pity. I was hoping I wouldn't have to hurt you." With that he leapt into action and charged. I sidestepped as he swung his scythe at me.

"Bastion, stop!" I pleaded.

He didn't respond, he only growled at me as he swung again. This time Yang stepped in and punched him in the side. He was sent flying as she looked at me.

"Ruby, we need to take him down, or he's going to kill us!"

I looked at my sister, she was right. If I tried to talk to him anymore, he was going to kill me. "Fine. But, how do we do that?"

She looked at Bastion as he climbed to his feet across the room. "We should take away his scythe, then we can restrain him."

"Okay." I ran at him and readied Crescent Rose, as I got closer, I swung at his legs trying to trip him. He jumped and instead rammed me in the stomach with his foot. As I was knocked to the floor, I saw Wiess and Blake jump down from above.

"Ruby! Are you alright?" Blake asked.

I clutched my stomach as I climbed to my feet. A wave of nausea washed over me, but I smiled. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Wiess had started helping Yang, she started forming her glyphs around Bastion. But he dodged them all and in retaliation tripped her. As he brought his scythe above his head, I had an idea.

"Blake, use your sword and yank his scythe out of his hands!" I said.

She stared at me, but nodded. As she ran over to help, I grabbed a magazine of tranquilizer bullets and slapped them into my weapon. _Hopefully this works._ Blake threw her sword at his scythe, wrapping it around the handle several times and then yanked. The weapon flew out of Bastion's hands and he stopped. Looking at me, he realized what was going on. I leveled my scythe at him and fired one of the darts. It hit him square in the chest, but still he stood attempting to wrestle the others off of him. I primed another shot and fired again, this one hitting him in the leg. He didn't even flinch. I had had enough. I fired the remaining 4 shots at him, only one of them missing, but he still kept on fighting. He punched Yang square in the jaw and knocked her out cold.

"YANG!" I yelled as she dropped in a heap.

Bastion grinned, and then he threw Blake over his shoulder, sending her flying into Weiss. Free from the others, he looked down to see Blake's gun on the ground. He quickly picked it up and aimed it at Yang.

"Stop! Move one more step and she dies!"He threatened.

I stopped advancing, and stared.

"Good. Now, throw me the scythe, Ruby. I don't want to have to kill you."

I looked at him, he just stood there, the gun pointed at Yang's chest. I sighed and lowered Crescent Rose. "Okay, just don't hurt her."

Bastion smiled. "You have my word. Now hand it over."

I looked at Crescent Rose. Then I activated my semblance and quickly raised it over my head and threw it. It moved fast as a bullet and hit Bastion in the waist, knocking the gun from his hand and sending him towards the wall. The blade hit hard and lodged itself into the metal, trapping Bastion immediately.

"What?! NO! Dammit, Ruby! Let me out of this, NOW!" He struggled to break free, but he stopped a moment later. In fact he stopped moving entirely.

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

The scythe had me trapped.

"What?! NO! Dammit, Ruby! Let me out of this, NOW!" I yelled. As I tried to break free, the voice came back again.

 _"Well, it looks like playtime is over. Have fun. I'll be back."_

The ringing came back and this time everything faded for a moment as my mind was suddenly washed in a cool feeling, it was almost as if someone had poured ice water into my skull. A moment later and the anger was gone. Then everything began to sink in. I looked up and saw what I had done in my rage. And standing before me was a very scared-looking Ruby.

"Oh, my god. Ruby, I'm so sorry! I couldn't stop!" I began to cry over what I had tried to do.

She just stared at me.

"Ruby, please. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to, you know I didn't mean to, right?"

She frowned as she turned away.

"I'm not sure I want to know if you did or not," she said as she walked over to her friends.

* * *

 **Unknown POV**

I stared at the mess below. Three of them were out cold. The girl looked like she was ready to cry. And he looked like someone had just told him to die.

"Now that, was fun. You know, I could get used to torturing the little guy."

I felt a vibration in the pocket of my coat. As I pulled out the scroll, I noticed it was Cinder. I answered.

"What? I'm busy."

She replied in a cold tone. "How goes it?"

I chuckled as I looked down again. "This boy will be easier to break than I thought."

Cinder groaned on the other end. "Why do you refuse to associate yourself with him, _Janet_? I mean after all, you are the one who made him."

"Don't call me that. The reason I refuse is because he is a failure. You know as much as I do that the experiments failed. Just because he was created, doesn't mean he is a success. He is nothing more than a tool."

"As you wish. I will let Salem know about your progress," She said.

As I ended the call and put the scroll in my coat again, I couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for him. But what I had said was the truth. He was nothing more than a tool.

And tools were meant to be broken.

* * *

 **HOLY CRAP!**

 **A whole lot of stuff happened this time. So let's see, Bastion freaked the hell out. And we learned a few things about our mystery character.**

 **1) Her name is Janet**

 **2) She "created" Bastion**

 **3) She is the one who is speaking to Bastion in his mind (We don't know how, yet. But we will...)**

 **Besides that stuff, I want to thank you for reading. Please feel free to leave a review, feedback helps.**

 **Anyways, I'll see you later.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside**

 **Soul's Release**


	5. Ranger's Eye

**Bastion's POV**

After everyone had left the sparring arena I remained stuck to the wall. It was only much later that Professor Ozpin and his assistant came to see me. I was staring at the floor, my eyes sore from crying most of the afternoon, when they entered. I heard them approach, their footsteps resonating throughout the large room. Ozpin stopped in front of me and sighed.

"What did you do?" he asked as if he didn't know already.

I just hung there, Ruby's scythe still holding me in a tight prison. I was too ashamed. I just wanted to go back to my old office building and live alone again. When I didn't answer, Ozpin touched the button on the scythe. As it transformed back into a smaller form, I fell to the floor. I didn't try to stand, though. I just continued to stare at my feet.

"Mr. Ranger, is it? I came down to see you because I was worried about you. When Professor Port had told me what had happened, I realized something. Do you know what it is?"He asked me as he sipped a cup of coffee.

I sniffled. Then I looked up at him. He looked concerned. "Let me guess, that I'm a monster?"

He shook his head. "No. While you may be one of the more troubled students I have met, you certainly are no monster. What I realized is that you, are very, very special."

I just continued to stare at him.

"I should have noticed when I saw that mark on your stomach. You aren't entirely human. You're something much more than human. When you were asleep in the hospital, the doctors did some blood-work, so they could give you a transfusion. But what they found was, that your blood is a mixture of human and Grimm."

My jaw dropped. "Wait, what?! What does that mean?" I asked him in a panic.

Once again he sipped his coffee, then shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. But judging by what happened here today, I would say that even though you're part human and have an aura, you also possess the very strength of the Grimm. Meaning that you are special."

I stood up. As I looked at my hands, which were covered in bruises, I noticed the sparkling black metal of my scythe. I looked at Ozpin again. "But if I'm part Grimm, why don't you just kill me? Save yourself the trouble of having to do it later."

Ozpin walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Because, I believe that you can learn how to control it."

"How?"

"It will be difficult, but I feel that with time, you will no doubt be able to use your strength as you need it."

I sighed and walked over to my weapon. It was damaged from the fight, the handle was bent and the tip of the blade was chipped. I picked it up and tried to transform it, but it only got about halfway. Instead it broke in half as it tried to fold over. I dropped it and looked at Ozpin.

"Okay. But will I'm not sure if I want to be on a team anymore. Not after today."

"As good an idea that is, I strongly advise against it. Based upon what Professor Port told me, it seems that even in an enraged state you showed restraint."

I looked back at him stunned. "Wait, what? What do you mean I showed restraint?"

He sipped his coffee again and pulled out a scroll. "This scroll belongs to one of the students who watched the incident. They recorded every moment."

I tensed up, I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. Ozpin walked over and handed me the scroll as he started the video. I saw myself standing there talking to Ruby. I had a gun in my hand, pointed at Yang. Ruby was walking towards me with her scythe aimed at me.

"Stop! Move one more step and she dies!"

Ruby stopped and lowered her weapon.

"Good. Now, throw me scythe, Ruby. I don't want to have to kill you."

Ruby sighed and looked at her scythe. "Okay, just don't hurt her."

Ruby then moved in a flash of black and red, rose petals flowing off of her. I couldn't make out what she did specifically, but I did notice when my body was thrown against the wall and pinned by her scythe. I decided to stop the video and close the scroll. I looked at Ozpin again.

"See? You showed restraint. If your rage was stronger, I have no doubt you wouldn't have hesitated to shoot both Ruby and her friends. That is why I believe you can control it."

I smiled slightly. He was right. If the Grimm side of me was stronger, I would have killed them all. "But what does that have to do with me not wanting to be on a team?"

He pushed his glassed up. "I think that even enraged, you are able to recognize Miss Rose as a friend. It's probably better for you to remain a part of her team, so that if this happens again, she can help you calm down."

"Okay. But, um, if I'm going to continue being a student here, I'm going to need a new weapon," I said as I looked at my broken weapon.

He looked at it as well. "Yes, I believe I may be able to help with that."

 **Ruby's POV**

As I sat in the infirmary with the rest of my team, I couldn't help but think about what had happened. Bastion had tried to kill me. Why? What happened that made him so angry? I sighed and looked up at Yang. She was still unconscious from the fight. Her jaw had a large bruise on it. Wiess and Blake were otherwise okay, they just had a few bruises on their arms and chests, probably from when Bastion threw Blake at Weiss. They were awake and talking to each other away from me. Probably about how this was my fault, seeing as I brought Bastion here.

I couldn't help but feel guilty. It was my fault. If I hadn't decided to help him when he had been shot, none of this would have happened.

I heard a shuffling noise and looked at the bed. I saw Yang moving. She slowly opened her eyes looking around the room.

"Yang, how are you feeling?" I said sitting straighter.

She reached up and rubbed her jaw. "Ow, what happened? I feel like someone threw a brick at my face."

I frowned. "You don't remember?"

She shook her head. "Not very well. I remember fighting Bastion, but then I don't know."

"He punched you in the jaw and knocked you out. I didn't know he was so strong."

She looked at me as if I had told her that her mother had came to see her. "That's not funny, Ruby. You and I both know how hard he would've had to hit me in order to do that. And there is no way his scrawny butt could be that strong."

"I know. But I'm telling the truth."

Weiss and Blake walked over.

"Ruby? Can we talk to you for a moment?" Blake said.

I nodded and got up from my chair. They led me away from the bed so that Yang couldn't hear. Weiss turned and glared.

"Do you know how bad this is?" She said with venom in her voice.

I nodded. "I know I messed up, guys. I'm sorry."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Yeah, you did mess up. But now we need to do something about him."

I got worried. "What do you mean?"

Blake looked at Weiss. "Hang on Weiss, don't get ahead of yourself. This isn't what we talked about."

"What do you mean?"

Weiss glared at me again. "She thinks we should help him. But that's a horrible idea! Who knows what will happen the next time. He could kill someone next time!"

I started to feel a pit in my stomach. "But- we can't just get rid of him. He's a student here."

"A dangerous one," they said at the same time.

"Didn't you see the way he acted in the end? He was scared. I don't think he knew what he was doing," I said.

Weiss and Blake looked at each other. "She's right. He did look terrified," Blake said.

I could tell that Weiss wasn't going to change her mind. She still stood there with her arms crossed.

"Please, just give him another chance, Weiss."

She sighed and let her arms fall to her sides. "Fine, but if something else happens, I'm holding you personally responsible, Ruby Rose."

I jumped up with glee and embraced them both in a hug.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. You won't regret this Weiss!"

She started to push me. "Get off of me."

I let go and smiled. "Sorry. Anyways, we should go help Yang."

They nodded and we walked back over to Yang who was finishing up with the nurse.

"What were you guys talking about?" She asked grinning.

I shook my head. "Nothing, just school stuff," I lied.

"Oh. Okay then." She stretched and started walking towards the door. "Well, we should probably get back to the dorm."

 **-The Next Day-**

 **Janet's POV**

As I rode the elevator up to the office of the headmaster of the school, I began thinking. The boy had almost gotten the scythe, just one thing got in the way. He hesitated, again. That dammed girl kept stopping him. If this continued much longer, the plan was going to fail. Then Salem would kill him. Not that I cared what happens to him, I just don't want her to force me to make a new one. It took years to successfully complete him.

I looked at the outfit I was wearing. I had a red dress shirt on with a very uncomfortable pair of khakis. I hated dressing up. But orders were orders. So I had to deal with it.

As the elevator reached the top I straightened out my shirt. The doors opened up to a large office with green lighting. All around the walls, ceiling and floor were various sizes of gears and cogs. While on the far end of the room was a large glass table with many holographic projections above it. Sitting in a chair reading a scroll was the headmaster. I walked into the room, careful to study the many aspects of the room.

As I stopped in front of the table I cleared my throat.

"Excuse me, are you Professor Ozpin?" I asked in the nicest voice that I could conjure up.

The man looked up at me. "Yes, I am. How may I help you?"

I smiled. "Hello, my name is Janet Starkand. I am here for the new position of weaponsmith."

He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. Wonderful, I was told you were coming. You are just in time. We have had several students damage their weapons the last few days. I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad to help. May I ask where I will be working?"

He pulled up a map of the school. On the far west portion was a small building that flashed red.

"This is the place. It has all of the tools you will need. We also receive deliveries of many weapon materials each week. So you shouldn't have a supply problem."

I smiled. "Wonderful. I will head there immediately. Thank you, Mr. Ozpin." I bowed slightly and turned to leave the room.

Perfect. With constant supply deliveries, modifying the scythe Salem gave me will be a snap.

 **Bastion's POV**

It's been a day since the incident at the sparring arena. I didn't sleep in the dorm with my team, though. I felt they would feel better being away from me for the night considering what I did. Today I was told by Ozpin to head to a building on the west end of the campus. Apparently I would be able to get my scythe replaced. As I got closer I noticed large metal boxes strewn about the front of the building. I peered into one and saw lots of different shapes of metal.

Must be for making weapons.

I opened the door and walked in. I saw many tools hanging from different hooks and nails. Some small, some as long as my arm. I walked over to one and picked it up. It was fairly heavy and it had a hammer on one end and a monkey-wrench on the other.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped and dropped the tool on the ground. I turned to see a lady in a heavy-duty apron wearing a welding mask. She had red hair and black eyes. She looked mad.

"U-uh nothing. Sorry, I was just looking at it," I stammered.

The lady walked over to me and grabbed the tool off of the floor. "What are you doing here?"

I pulled the pieces of my scythe from out of a bag on my back. "I was told you could help me repair my scythe."

She took the pieces and examined them. "There isn't any fixing this, kid," she said as she placed them on a table. "Hang on, let me go look and see if I have something similar in the workshop."

I watched as she turned a corner and heard a door open. There were a few banging noises and I heard her yell a few obscenities. A few minutes later she came back with a black box.

"Okay, here. This should be good. Just be careful with this one."

I took the box and examined it. It was light, but I didn't care. As long as I had a weapon I was happy.

"Thank you, Miss. -"

"Starkand," She said quickly.

"Thank you, Miss Starkand."

I turned and left. But as I closed the door I could've swore I heard her say something else. I payed no attention to it. I could care less, I had a new weapon. I started walking back towards the dorms and began to open the box. Inside was what looked like a black glove with a small tube sticking out of it.

"What is this?" I said with a grin.

Without hesitating I dropped the box and slipped the glove on my hand. It fit perfectly. I looked at it for a moment trying to figure out what it did, but all I found was an engraving of a thorned rosebush.

"Why, in the world, does it have that?" I asked myself.

I looked at it more and once again noticed the small tube on the top. I pushed it and was surprised when A metal pole the size of an eraser shot out and began changing. It began to extend completely and soon it was a full sized scythe. This one was the same color as my old one but of a thornbush emblem, this one had a rose with thorns wrapped around it. Almost as if the thorns were crushing it.

"Okay, that's kind of weird. But damn this thing is cool!"

I also noticed a handle in the middle that looked like it could be moved. I grasped it and pulled it back towards the end. A few loud clicking noises came from it and a sniper scope popped up from the middle as a gun barrel extended from the top of the blade. After that a box dropped from under the lever and a trigger and trigger guard popped out of the handle behind them.

"Oh. My. GOD! This thing is AMAZING!" I yelled as I held it up, looking through the scope.

I pushed the lever back and all the extensions retreated back into the scythe. After it finished a small grey button popped out above the lever. Hoping that it would shrink again, I pressed it. To my satisfaction the scythe started to transform back into the pole it was before. I placed it back into my glove and smiled.

"Deadly, yet versatile. I like it," I said to myself as I continued to walk towards the dorms.

 **-1/2 Hour Later-**

I stood in front of the door to my team's dorm. I was extremely nervous. The last time I saw any of them, I had just tried to murder them. I would be lucky if they didn't kick me out. Still, though, I had to at least try. I grabbed the handle and opened the door. Inside they were all busy doing their own thing. Weiss was studying, Blake reading a book, Yang listening to music, and Ruby was polishing her scythe. I closed the door quietly and cleared my throat. They all looked my direction.

"H-hey guys. I'm back," I stammered.

The only person who responded was Weiss.

"Welcome back, Bastion. What do you want?" She asked me spitefully.

I looked at my feet. "Nothing, I just figured I should come back and apologized for yesterday. I know you probably won't believe me when I say it but, I'm sorry."

Ruby looked up from her scythe and smiled slightly. "Apology accepted, Bastion."

I looked up and smiled back at her. She had put her scythe down and was walking towards me. I stepped back. She stopped directly in front of me and grinned.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked her.

She laughed and lightly punched me in the arm. "No. I just wanted to give you a hug."

Before I could react she pulled me into a tight hug and squeezed. It was tighter than I expected and I felt like she was going to break my back. I started to lose the ability to breathe.

"R-ruby! I cant breathe! Let go!" I said as my lungs began to burn.

"Oh, sorry." She let go and air rushed back into my lungs.

She rubbed the back of her head. "Hey, what's that?" She asked looking at my hand.

I brought my hand up. "Oh, I got a new weapon, since my last one got broke yesterday. Watch this," I said.

I pushed the tube and the pole popped out. "You may want to stand back," I said as I caught it.

Ruby backed up a bit as the pole started transforming into the scythe. I grabbed it off of the floor and swung it over my shoulder. "Pretty cool, huh?"

The girls just stared at it. "Oh, hang on. There's more."

I pulled the lever and watched as the sniper rifle parts extended. Once it finished, I looked at the girls again.

"Wow. That's awesome, Bastion," Ruby said in awe.

"I know right?" I said as I transformed the weapon back into its pole form.

"What's it called?" Ruby asked.

"What's it called?" I repeated.

"Yeah."

"What do you mean?"

She giggled. "Well, I figured you would have named it. Considering how cool it is."

"Does your weapon have a name?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I named it Crescent Rose."

I looked at my glove which housed my weapon. I hadn't thought about naming it. But it did sound like a good idea.

"Well, what are you going to name it?" Weiss asked me.

"Ranger's Eye."

They all looked at me.

"Sounds good to me," Ruby said.

* * *

 **And there is chapter 5. I bet you weren't expecting that twist about Bastion. I had always planned on revealing that little detail, but I thought that I would do it much later. But I'm glad I did. Also, Janet is now working at Beacon, no doubt to get closer to Bastion.**

 **Well, I think for next time, I might incorporate the the episodes where Team RWBY would go to Mountain Glenn with Professor Oobleck.**

 **Anyways thanks for reading.**

 **As always**

 **I'll See You Starside**

 **Soul's Release**


	6. Keeping Secrets

**A/N: So after writing 5 chapters, I came up with an idea. I was listening to some music while writing the last chapter and I realized that I should give the main characters their own theme song. So here is the list:**

 **1)Bastion (Normal)- Knights of Cydonia by Muse  
2)Bastion (Enraged)- Monster by Skillet  
3) Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang- This Will Be The Day by Jeff Williams  
4) Janet Starkand- Last Resort by Papa Roach**

 **So yeah. I figured I would put that there. It seem kind of cool to do, in my opinion. So here we go with chapter 6.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

It had been a few days after the incident, and by that time I was enrolled in many classes. History with Professor Oobleck, Grimm Studies with Professor Port, and Combat Strategy with Miss Glynda Goodwitch. But I had an extra class, Professor Port and Professor Ozpin worked with each other and myself, in an attempt to better understand the ramifications of the Grimm side of me. I would go to the sparring arena every other day while everyone was at lunch and train. I usually missed lunch, but I didn't care. I needed to know more about myself, if I was ever going to control it. I was doing good. Ruby and the others seemed like they were warming up to me, too.

I was sitting in beanbag chair in the dorm reading one of my textbooks, when Blake came in the room.

"Oh, hey Blake. What are you doing? I thought you went out to get some supplies from town with the others," I said as she sat on her bed.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I was going to, but I changed my mind."

"Oh. Well, okay then."

She grabbed one of her books off of the bookcase and turned to a page she had marked. I decided to let her be and get back to studying. A few minutes went by and then my scroll started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at who was calling. It was Ruby, so I put my book down and answered.

"Hey, Ruby."

 _"Hey Bastion. How's it going?"_

"Fine, just studying for history. Professor Oobleck wanted me to write him a report about the history of Dust. Why, what's up?" I asked.

I heard a beeping noise in the background. _"Nothing, major. I was just calling to let you know that we are getting ready to head back to the school. Do you want us to get you anything before we come back?"_

"Um, if you could, can you stop by that noodle shop that you like and grab me a bowl of noodles with shrimp? I'm getting kind of hungry."

I heard her and Yang laugh. _"Yeah, we'll do that. See you later."_

"Later," I said as I hung up.

I put my scroll away and went back to by book. After a while Blake spoke.

"Hey Bastion."

I looked up at her. She had put her book down and was now looking at me, her legs hanging of the side of the bed.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" She said scratching the back of her head.

I nodded.

"That day you attacked Ruby, you had a weird red symbol on your clothes. What was it?"

I sighed. Deciding it would be better to show her, than try to explain it, I lifted up my shirt. "That was this,"I said as I showed her the black thornbush on my stomach.

She almost covered her eyes when I revealed it but, then she stopped and looked at it. I could tell she was kind of surprised by it.

"What is it?"

I shook my head. "I'm not exactly sure. According to Professor Ozpin, I am half Grimm and half Human. He thinks that instead of having many different red Grimm markings, I have one large black one. It only glows red when the Grimm side takes control of me. That day I attacked Ruby, I had lost control and the Grimm inside me broke out."

She took a moment to process what I had just told her before answering. "But, you're learning to control it, right?"

"Yeah. That's why you guys barely ever see me at lunch. I am training with Ozpin and Professor Port during that time."

She smiled at me. "You know, you and I are kind of alike."

I lowered my shirt and cocked my head to the side. "How's that?"

She pulled on her bow and it unraveled into a ribbon. Underneath was a pair of cat ears.

"Whoa, wait a minute. You're a Faunus?"I asked shocked.

She nodded. "Yeah. So I guess we're both different."

"But why do you wear that bow?"

She frowned. "Because I used to be a member of the White Fang."

"You used to be? What happened?"

"We were being treated like equals, but not out of respect. Out of fear. So, I left. I decided I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little, black bow," She said staring at the ribbon in her hands.

I stood up and walked over to her. "Well, I don't care. So what if you were a member of the White Fang. That doesn't make you a bad person. It just means you made a mistake. And trust me, while they may seem bad at first, mistakes are actually a good thing."

She looked up at me. "What do you mean?"

I grabbed the ribbon and tied it back into a bow on top of her ears. "Making mistakes, it means you're human, so to speak. So, if you want to wear your bow, go ahead. besides I think it makes you look kind of cute," I said as I finished.

She flinched. "You think I look cute?"

I blushed. "U-um, yeah. A little."

She stood up and stared at me with her yellow eyes. I felt a knot form in my stomach. Then she did something I didn't expect. She leaned over and kissed me lightly on my cheek. My eyes grew huge as she did it.

"Thank you, Bastion. Just please promise not to tell anyone. I'm not sure anyone would be as open about this as you."

I felt my cheek, then shook my head. "Y-yeah, I promise, Blake."

She sat back one her bed and picked her book back up.

I stood there for a few seconds before going back to my beanbag chair. As I sat down, my mind began racing. Blake had kissed me.

Damn.

* * *

 **oO_Oo**

 **Holy crap, that was certainly interesting, wasn't it. Blake and Bastion had an interesting conversation. And before anyone asks, NO. They are not going to be a thing. I still will have Sun Wukong be Blake's love interest. I just thought that since the both of them were different, I would give them a chapter together.**

 **Anyways. I decided to make this a shorter chapter because, one of my friends was reading the earlier ones and asked if I could make a shorter one next. So there you go.**

 **Plus, I still am waiting for 2 reviewers to leave info for an OC they would like. Remember, you need to have left a review before sending the information. Otherwise, I will not accept it, sorry.**

 **So, anyways, thank you for reading chapter 6.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside**

 **Soul's Release**


	7. Field Trip of Death

**Weiss's POV**

"Ruby, you know that we're going to into the Forever Fall forest tomorrow to get that sap for Professor Peach."

Ruby, who was setting out her outfit for tomorrow, looked up from her clothes.

"I know Weiss. I remembered," she said with a slight whine.

I put my hands on my hip and sighed. "Then why are you setting out your outfit that you would wear when you're shopping? You know that there are Grimm in the forest. If you wear that, it'll get ruined."

Ruby frowned and stared at the outfit. "But, this is my favorite."

"Well, Weiss does have a point, Ruby," Bastion said looking up from the comic book he was reading. "Besides, if that is your favorite, you shouldn't wear it. You should wear something else, just in case we do fight any Grimm."

Ruby looked at Bastion like she had betrayed her. "Bastion, whose side are you on?"

He shrugged. "I'm not on anybody's side. I just think that maybe it's a good idea to wear something else."

Ruby threw a book at him that had been on the floor next to her.

"Ow what was that for?" he said after the book hit him in the arm.

Ruby crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. She could be so childish.

"Will you two knock it off?" I yelled. "Ruby, I don't care what you wear, to be honest. I was just trying to be helpful. Now if you don't mind. I'm going to bed, it's going to be a very busy day tomorrow," I said as I crawled into bed. I pulled the covers over my head and went to sleep.

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

 _I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was surrounded by water. I opened my eyes to see that I was floating in some sort of tank. There were tubes and hoses attached to my body. As I started moving, a figure walked in front of me and stopped in front of a computer. As they tapped tapped on the display another figure came up behind them._

 _"You know as well as I do that the serum isn't ready. Injecting it would just be a waste of time at this point," the second figure said._

 _The first person pulled up a display of what looked like data. "Listen, if we don't hurry on this, the boss is going to be pissed. You heard what she said. We only have 2 months to produce a fully functional iteration of the serum."_

 _"But we've been working on this for 5 years and we still have nothing that has come close to the original in terms of efficiency."_

 _The first person looked at the tank and walked over. "Yes, I know. But I have a feeling that we're getting close." The person placed their hand on the glass as the other person left. "Don't you worry, your time will come, subject 31._

* * *

 **-The Next Morning-**

 _"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING"_

"Come on, Ruby. Why do you set your alarm clock so early?" I whined as I tried to ignore the incessant ringing.

I felt an object hit me in the gut and uncovered my head to see Ruby laughing at me. I looked at my lap to see the, still ringing, alarm clock. "Why did you throw that at me?"

She laughed again as she walked over to the closet. "Because, you need to get up. We need to get ready for class. You don't want to miss out on the trip to Forever Fall Forest, do you?"

I grumbled at the idea of going into the forest again. "I certainly wouldn't mind missing it, no." I got up out of my beanbag chair and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I twisted the cap off of my toothpaste and opened my mouth to brush but was startled when I saw my teeth.

"AH! What is wrong with my teeth?" I yelled.

A moment later the others were behind me trying to see what I had freaked out about.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Asked Ruby.

I turned around and shook my head. "Something's wrong with my teeth, guys." I opened my mouth so that they could see and they all gasped. Most of my front teeth now looked like the teeth of a Beowulf. They weren't as long, but they definitely looked just as sharp.

"What happened?" Ruby asked as she got closer.

"I don't know. They were normal last night before I went to sleep. But now they look like this. What do I do? I can't let anyone see this. The only people who know about my secret is us and the staff. If students found out, I would probably be taken to a lab and dissected." I was terrified. I looked down at my feet, then the girls all placed a hand on my arm.

"You know I won't let that happen," Ruby said as she looked up into my eyes.

"And if it happens anyway?" I said as tears began forming.

"Then we'll help you," Yang said with a large grin. "After all you're our teammate. Sure you have some issues, but that doesn't mean a thing. We're friends to the end."

Ruby nodded. "You bet. If anything happens, we'll be right by your side."

I wiped the tears away and smiled. "You guys are the best. Even after what I've done, you guys are still going to be my friends?"

"Of course, that's what friends do," Blake said.

Weiss looked back at the alarm clock on the floor. "Um, guys we're going to be late."

We all nodded and rushed to finish getting ready. A few minutes later everyone had their stuff and were now waiting on me to finish getting my boots on. I was hopping around on one foot trying to get it on. I tripped on the alarm as I got the boot on.

"Ow," I said as I rubbed my head. Ruby helped me up and I grabbed Ranger's Eye. "Okay, lets go."

* * *

 **Unknown POV**

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a scroll. The caller ID said 'Cinder.' _Great, this should end well._ I answered the scroll.

"What is it?" I asked.

 _"Are you there, yet?"_

"Yeah, I'm in the forest, just like you wanted. I still don't understand why you hired me to kidnap one boy."

She sounded frustrated. _"Because, all of the other people I would give this task to are busy."_

"Fine, but may I ask why you want me to kidnap him. From what you say, he doesn't sound like that big of a threat. I mean, you said it yourself. His cells would begin the process of transformation soon. If you were to wait, he would probably destroy the damned thing himself in the end."

 _"We don't have that much time. We need him out of the picture now."_

"Okay, fine. I'll get it done." I said with a sigh.

 _"Good. I have to go. Report back to me when it is done."_

I heard the call end and put my scroll away. I inspected my boots, to make sure that I had loaded them, and walked into the forest.

 _The things I do for a paycheck._

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

We had been walking for what seemed like hours, when, the teacher who was assigned to supervise stopped and turned to face us. Professor Noro was a younger teacher who looked like he was a fantastic hunter. He wore a dark green t-shirt with a blue jacket over the top. He also wore a pair of black jeans with red sneakers. He also carried a pen in his pocket and there was a scar that went down the left side of his face.

"Okay, students. Today you will be collecting jars of sap from the trees here in the forest. Now, since there are many Grimm in this area, I will be walking around to ensure your safety. After all it would be terrible if any of you were to suffer from such a ' _GRIMM'_ death," he said as he raised an eyebrow at the joke he had made.

A couple of people chuckled lightly, but I honestly thought the joke was terrible.

"Anyways, Mr. Arc, please distribute the collection jars," Jaune began passing out the jars and once I received mine, I followed my team.

"Sooo, I guess we could split up?" I suggested.

Ruby shook her head. "No, you heard what Professor Noro said. If we split up, we'd just make ourselves any easier target for an Grimm. We should stick together. Besides if we find a big enough tree, we can all get our sap at the same time."

"Okay."

* * *

 **-2 Hours Later-**

We eventually found a large enough tree for all of us to get our sap from. Weiss had used Myrtenaster to stab a hole large enough for us to insert a spigot and then we all took turns to get our jars of sap. After a while everyone but Ruby had a full jar. I had sat down under a tree and began to polish Ranger's Eye when I heard an odd noise.

 ** _ROOOOAAAAR!_**

"Did you guys hear that?" I said as I looked up from my weapon.

Weiss and Blake looked in the direction of the noise. "Yeah, what do you think it was?"

"It kind of sounded like an Ursa,"Yang said.

 _"That's a big Ursa!"_

"That sounded like one of the guys in team CRDL,"Ruby said as she tightened the lid on her jar of sap.

I stood up and extended Ranger's Eye into rifle mode. "You guys go get Professor Noro. I'll go see if I can help."

"Wait, Bastion, are you crazy?" yelled Weiss.

I turned and gave her a smug grin. "Maybe, but if team CRDL is in trouble, then I will be able to help them. Besides, no offense but I'll be able to move quicker by myself."

"Okay. But you'd better be careful. If you get killed, I'm bringing you back to life just so I can kill you again for being stupid." Weiss said.

I gave them a thumbs up and ran to go help the members of team CRDL.

As I got closer to where the noise had come from, I noticed that it was strangely quiet. I eventually ended up in a clearing where sure enough I saw team CRDL and Jaune standing. The body of an Ursa laid in front of them and Jaune was cleaning his sword off.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

Jaune looked over to me and waved. "Hey, Bastion. Yeah, we're okay. We took care of it."

"Oh, okay. I just heard an Ursa and so I can to see if I could help," I said as I transformed Ranger's Eye and put it into its glove.

"Yeah, we're okay. Thanks though." Jaune said. He turned to Cardin, the leader of team CRDL. "We'd better head back. Come on Cardin."

As they left I walked over to the body of the Grimm as it began to evaporate. "Hmm, that was quick. How were they able to take down this Ursa so quickly?" I said out loud.

As I turned around and got ready to leave, I saw a metal canister fly and hit the ground in front of me.

"What the hell? What's that thing supp-"

 _ **BANG!**_

I was blinded as the canister exploded into a huge deafening flash. As I struggled to regain my senses I heard the sound of a gun go off. Then I felt an impact hit me in the side as I fell to the ground.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little science experiment gone wrong. Man, that was way too easy."

As my vision cleared, I saw a man wearing leather tuxedo with red, leather fedora. He was walking towards me with what looked like a syringe. I struggled to my feet and readied Ranger's Eye.

"Oh, gonna put up a fight, are we?" He chuckled as he put the syringe away and lightly tapped his boots together. I heard the distinct noise of a shotgun being primed and knew his boots were his weapons.

I charged at the man, who responded by sidestepping and kicking me in the ribs, sending me to the ground again.

 _Man, this is going to be painful. Wait, I totally forgot about my aura._

I channeled my energy and raised my aura into a personal shield to keep myself protected. As I did he fired a shotgun shell at me, which only bounced off of the barrier.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. Okay, then kid. Let's play."

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

"Do you guys think Bastion will be okay?" I asked the others.

Yang looked at me with a smile. "If anyone would be able to handle an Ursa, it would be Bastion. I'm sure he'll be fine, Rubes."

As soon as Yang finished speaking we all heard an explosion coming from the direction Bastion had gone.

"You just had to open your mouth," Weiss said with a groan.

"Come on, guys. Bastion's in trouble," I said as I ran to help Bastion.

I activated my semblance and was now racing through the forest to where the explosion had come from. I found myself in a clearing where I saw Bastion trying to fight a man in a tuxedo. He didn't look like he was doing okay. His nose was bleeding and he was barely able to stand up straight. I pulled Crescent Rose off my back and transformed her into scythe mode.

"Hey! Leave Bastion alone!" I shouted as I got into a combat stance.

The man turned to face me and grinned. "Well, it looks like the freak has a friend. Don't worry about the boy, girly. He's not really a real person."

I grew angry and charged at the man, attempting to slash at his arms. He kicked in my direction. A bullet flew in my direction and exploded in a cloud of Fire Dust. The explosion knocked me to the ground as my aura surged.

"Ruby, no! Get out of here! This guy is dangerous!" Bastion yelled at me as he fired his weapon at the man, who just laughed as the bullet bounced off his own aura.

"No! You need help!" I yelled back as I rose to my feet and attacked the man again. My attacks once again bounced off and he responded by punching me in the gut. I felt the impact and doubled over. My aura was taking a huge beating. Whoever this guy was, he was strong. He walked over to me and began to kick me in the gut; each kick lowering my aura piece by piece until it was gone.

Bastion ran over and swung his scythe at the stranger but was stopped as the person grabbed him by the wrist and wrestled the scythe from his grasp. Once he had Ranger's Eye he proceeded to swing it at me.

Bastion tried to stop him by jumping in front of the blade.

"NOO!"

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

I jumped in front of Ranger's Eye and yelled.

"NOO!"

The guy stopped swinging my scythe and looked at me.

"What's your problem, kid. You're not even a real person. Why do you care what happens to her?"

I frowned at the man. "Because, she's my friend. She's one of my _only_ friends."

"Whatever," he chuckled. Then the man kicked me in the chest and knocked me into the trunk of a tree. I hit my head and then began to lose consciousness.

"Now, to get rid of the witness."

All I could do was watch as the man raised Ranger's Eye and bring it down on a very weak and vulnerable Ruby. I saw blood begin to flow from her small form. Then everything faded to black.

* * *

 **And that's chapter 7. I hope you guys enjoyed. It was probably the longest chapter in terms of production time, so far. I hope that the story is still interesting to you guys.**

 **By the way, in case you guys didn't notice I introduced 2 new characters in this chapter.  
1) Professor Nicholas Noro= A character that one of my friends wanted me to base off of them.**

 **2) Unknown Mercenary Figure= Another character that a different wanted me to make.**

 **More about their character will more than likely be revealed in chapter 8. But I wanted to also say that I am very proud of where this story is going so far. Also, in case you didn't notice, at this point in the actual RWBY timeline, this would take place during episodes of 13 and 14 of Volume 1.**

 **Anyways, once again, thank you all for reading. Go ahead and leave a review, if you would like; I am always wanting some criticism so I know what things I am doing well at and things I need to improve upon.**

 **So,**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	8. Revelations

**Unknown POV**

As I stabbed the girl in the gut, I couldn't help but smile at the two's feeble attempt at trying to defeat me. My target was out like a light, and the girl, well I definitely wasn't going to be seeing her again. I stared at the scythe that was lodged in her midsection, it was actually a very elegant looking weapon. I looked at the boy, he was slumped against a tree with a small pool of blood surrounding him, probably from his head when it had hit the tree. I walked over to him, placed a pair of restraints on his wrists and threw him over my shoulder. Making sure he wasn't going to fall, I pulled out my scroll and called Cinder. After a moment, she answered.

 _"Yes, what do you want?" she asked._

"I got him. And I also managed to take out that girl you were worried about," I said smugly.

 _"Really? Well then, I guess that takes care of that problem. Bring the boy back to us. We have work to do," she said coldly._

"Yes, ma'am. I'm on my way."

I put the scroll away and began walking away from the scene, leaving the girl to her fate.

* * *

 **Weiss's POV**

It had been almost a half an hour since Ruby had ran off to help Bastion, and about five minutes since we had heard someone yelling the word 'no.' I was worried, as much as I knew Ruby could take care of herself against a few Grimm, I couldn't help but have a horrible feeling in the bottom of my gut. We had almost arrived at where we saw Ruby run, when I began to smell the coppery scent of blood.

"Guys, do you smell that?" I asked.

"No, what is it?" Yang asked.

I grimaced. "I smell blood."

"GUYS, IT'S RUBY!" Blake yelled from just ahead.

Yang and I ran up to Blake and were stopped dead in our tracks at what we stumbled upon. Laying in a broken position, within a pool of blood was Ruby. She had Bastion's scythe lodged in her abdomen and was gushing blood from the wound. Yang, who had overcome the shock of the sight in front of her, ran and slid on her knees to the side of her sister.

"Ruby! RUBY! Wake up!" She yelled. "Guys, help me!"

I ran over and grabbed the handle of the scythe, but was stopped by Blake as she placed her hand on my arm.

"No, if you take that out, she might die."

Yang looked up at Blake, her eyes full of tears. "But if we don't she'll die anyway!"

I looked at Blake. "Go get Professor Noro. Tell him Ruby's hurt. And hurry."

Blake nodded and ran. I knelt beside Ruby's body and began to try and help. I checked her for a pulse.

"How is she, Weiss?" Yang asked.

I frowned. "She's not doing good. I mean, she has a pulse, but it's fading fast. I don't know how long she'll last."

"Hang in there, Rubes. It's going to be okay. I'm here, just hang on."

As I sat there and examined the area, I noticed another area with blood. A tree, about 20 feet away had a streak of blood on its trunk and at its base. I looked back at Ruby and saw a geyser of blood erupt from the wound. As I sat there, I realized that the scythe was only making it worse. I stood up and grabbed the handle of the weapon and began to lift it up when Yang yelled at me.

"What are you doing? You'll kill her!"

I looked down at Yang and began to feel my heart racing. "If I don't remove the scythe, whatever aura she has left won't be able to start healing her. It needs to be removed, so that the blood stops gushing from the wound," I explained.

Yang looked down at Ruby's face. Her already pale face was now grey and it looked as if she was already dead. She then started to cry a bit harder. "Okay, do it."

I gripped the scythe and yanked the weapon out of Ruby's body. I tossed the weapon away and immediately tore the sleeves off of my dress. After I had several strips of cloth, I began wrapping Ruby's torso in the makeshift bandages in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. It wasn't the best, but it was all I could do. Now, all we could do was wait for Blake to come back with Professor Noro. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long. Within a few minutes, help had arrived. Blake, Professor Noro, and everyone else had came to help.

"Oh, my. What happened here?" Noro asked.

I shook my head. "We don't know. Earlier, Bastion went to help team CRDL fight some Grimm, then we heard an explosion. Ruby ran to help and shortly after we heard yelling, then Blake, Yang, and I came to see who yelled and we found Ruby with Bastion's scythe in her stomach."

Noro, who had knelt by Ruby, shook his head. "And where is Mr. Ranger now?"

"We don't know. He wasn't here when we got here," I said.

Professor Noro had used his aura to boost Ruby's, so that her body could begin healing itself, then he picked her up and looked at the bloodied tree across the way. He shook his head. "Come, students. We must hurry if, Miss Rose is to survive." And then everyone left. But before I walked away, I grabbed Bastion's scythe and transformed it into its pole form, then I place it in my pocket.

 _I hope Bastion is okay._

* * *

 **Cinder's POV**

I walked into the dungeon of Salem's fortress, ignoring the many Grimm that lurked in the halls. They knew better than to attack me, after all, I could easily kill one with a simple flare of my semblance. I walked in front of a cell and smiled. The mercenary had arrived not too long ago and placed the boy in one of the cells. He was still unconscious when he had been brought in. The mercenary stood next to the cell, smoking a cigar.

"It's good to see you completed your job, Ying. Nice job, by the way, on eliminating the girl," I said smiling.

The man just stood there, smoking. I looked into the cell. The boy was chained against the wall. On his neck was a restraint collar. After all, we didn't want him to go berserk and escape. I opened the door and walked in. As I examined him, I noticed the mark on his abdomen. It had changed since the last time I had seen it. I smiled and then grabbed the boy's hair and then I proceeded to slam his head into the stone wall behind him. He shouted in pain as he awoke.

"Aah. What the hell?" he yelled.

"Good you're awake," I said sweetly.

He looked around with wide eyes. "Where am I?"Who are you? Where's Ruby?!" He panicked.

I punched him in the jaw. "Quiet. It doesn't matter where you are. As for your friend, she's dead." I said with malice.

The boy looked at me with anger in his eyes. "No! Why? Why?! You killed my friend!"

"Please, you don't have any friends. You're just a tool. Nothing more."

He stared at me for a moment before responding. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I grinned. "Haven't you wondered why you have that mark on you? You're a man-made hybrid of Human DNA and Grimm DNA. You weren't born, you were made. Everything you know is a fake. But, we didn't realize you were a failure until Salem sent you to Beacon. You will eventually succumb to the Grimm side of you, and when you do, you will kill everything. Not that we don't want you to do that, we just need to put a leash on you. So we brought you home to be fixed."

The boy just continued to stare at me. He looked like his whole world had been shattered. He looked down at his feet. then he spoke. "I was made? But why?" he asked slowly.

"You were made, to kill hunters and huntresses. You were made to ensure that Salem would be able to claim the seat as ruler of the new world. A world which you will help create."

After a moment, the boy lashed out at me. But his restraint collar immediately shocked him.

"Ow, what was that?" He asked through ragged breaths.

"That was a special treat that Salem made. It's made to drain your aura and electrocute you severely when you attempt to fight anything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go tell Salem that you're home."

I walked out of the cell and left the boy to be tortured by Ying.

 _What a wonderful day._

* * *

 **-One Week Later-**

 _"What do you mean, just save her!"_

" _Please, wake up Ruby..."_

 _"You're not taking her off of life support! She'll wake up. I know she will..."_

 _"I love you, sis. I'm sorry this happened..."_

 **Ruby's POV**

 _Why does my stomach hurt? What happened?_

As I slowly regained unconscious, a flood of pain washed over me. I felt like my body was on fire. I slowly opened my eyes to see a white ceiling. I struggled to turn my head, but it hurt to much. I grunted at the pain and winced.

"Ruby? Oh my god. You're alive!" a voice said.

A moment later I heard running footsteps and commotion. Then I saw Yang standing over me.

"Ruby, oh thank goodness, you're okay. I was starting to think you were never going to wake up."

"W-what happened?" I tried saying, but it came out as a hoarse whisper.

"You don't remember?"

"Sort of. I remember trying to help Bastion fight off someone, but after that everything is a mystery."

Weiss and Blake had come into the room by now and were now standing at the end of the bed.

"We found you in a clearing, you were almost dead. You had Bastion's scythe in your stomach. We pulled it out and brought you to the hospital," Weiss explained.

My eyes grew wide at hearing that. "Where's Bastion? Is he okay?"

My teammates just stood there for a while, then Weiss answered. "He was gone when we got there. He probably ran after he attacked you, Ruby."

"No! He wouldn't have done that. He was trying to protect me from his attacker. Why would he hurt me?"

"Because, Miss Rose. His Grimm side took over and sent him into a blinding rage."

I saw Professor Ozpin walk in. His face was plastered with an expression of regret. "This is my fault. If I hadn't let him remain at Beacon, none of this would have happened. It is my fault that you were almost killed."

"But, Bastion didn't do this!" I protested.

"Ruby, all the evidence points to him. I know he was our teammate, but he's dangerous," Yang said as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Indeed. And that is why, when you are feeling better, I am sending you all with Professor Noro to hunt Mr. Ranger down. He needs to be eliminated."

"NO! This isn't his fault!" I began to cry. "You can't just kill him!"

Ozpin sighed. "I know this is hard to listen to, but it needs to be done. I'm sorry."

I started sobbing.

"Come on girls. Let her be, she's been through enough."

They all left and closed the door. I just continued to cry. The pain in my stomach was nothing compared to the pain brought by the news I had been given. After a while I couldn't cry anymore, instead I was angry. I wasn't going to let them hurt Bastion. He hadn't hurt me and then run. He was kidnapped, I was sure of it. And I was going to help him.

 _Just hang on Bastion. I'll save you._

* * *

 **Well that was a rollercoaster of a chapter. Turns out that Bastion was made to help destroy the world. And we learned the name of our mysterious mercenary, Ying. Then Ozpin told everyone that he's authorizing the hunt for Bastion. I guess we'll see what Ruby does as a result.**

 **So, other than that, I guess we'll see what happens in Chapter 9. Only one more chapter that takes place during Volume 1. Get ready, Cause it's going to be a big one.**

 **Feel free to leave reviews.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	9. Robbery Gone Wrong

**Author's Note:**

 **Here it is! Chapter 9 of this hopefully wonderful story. It also happens to be the finale of Volume 1! There will be events in this chapter that are both canon and noncanon to the RWBY storyline, but I hope it is a vert successful chapter.**

 **So without any further delay, HERE WE GO!**

 **-One Week After The Events Of Chapter 8-**

 **Ruby's POV**

It had been almost 2 weeks since the events in Forever Fall Forest. Nobody had heard from Bastion, nor had anyone seen anything during the hunt for him. I had taken the week to train my muscles back into shape, after what I had been through, I was surprised that only took a week, but I was thankful it didn't. I was sitting in our dorm cleaning Crescent Rose, thinking about tomorrow. The day that the remaining members of team RWBY were going to start the hunt for Bastion, with the help of Professor Noro. I didn't want to. I still felt deep down, that Bastion hadn't hurt me. But that feeling was growing smaller with each day. He hadn't tried to get a hold of anyone, so I was losing hope.

I looked up from Crescent Rose to look outside. It was late in the night, everyone was asleep. Except me, I had had having trouble sleeping the last couple of days. I sighed and looked at the beanbag chair in the corner. Ranger's Eye was sitting in it. Dust was collecting on its surface, it was sad. I missed Bastion, he was my friend and now, he was gone.

I fought back tears as I put Crescent Rose away and dropped it on the floor. I didn't care how much noise I made, I was mad. When my scythe hit the floor, I heard Yang stir in her sleep. She didn't wake up, but I wished she would. I was sad, and I needed someone to talk to. I laid back in my bed and decided to try and get some sleep. Before I closed my eyes I whispered one last thing to the silence of the room.

"I miss you."

 **-3 Days After The Events Of Chapter 8-**

 **Cinder's POV**

"Get up. Did I say you were done?" I yelled at the boy.

I had been beating him for the last 3 hours. I was having fun, I was getting to practice using my semblance, and I had made great progress in terms of making larger amounts of fire. The boy on the other hand, he had burn marks all over his body. The last few days had prove successful in terms of breaking his spirit. He barely ever tried to attack anyone, even other Grimm. I was sure he had given up.

"I-I can't do it-" He coughed up some blood. "Anymore."

I sighed. "Fine. Besides, Salem has a job for you." I threw him a bottle of water and watched as he drank it. Once he had finished, I grabbed his arm. "Come on. Let's go."

I led him through the fortress and into the meeting hall. Salem, Ying, Emerald, and Mercury were talking to Torchwick on a scroll when we walked in.

"Ah, Cinder. We were just talking about the next step of the plan. Please, have a seat," She gestured towards an empty seat near her and I walked over to the side of the room. I stood the boy next to the wall before I sat down.

"Don't move, after all, I don't want to have to burn you again,"I said in a sweet voice. He shivered at that, which made me smile. I took my seat and looked at Salem.

"So, how goes it?" I asked.

"Very well. Now Torchwick, I believe you were just explaining the situation about your current Dust amounts?"

 _"Yes. As I was saying tonight we are planning a big operation. While I feel that things will no doubt, go smoothly, I can't help but get the feeling that Beacon will send a Hunter to try and stop us,"_ Torchwick said on the scroll.

"Very well. I will send you the boy. This will be his chance to prove himself," Salem grinned at the kid. "You'd better behave, Bastion. I don't want to hear that you disobeyed Roman."

The boy nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I will do my best."

"Excellent. The boy will be there within a few days. Until then, Roman, I want you to keep gathering the Dust. When Bastion gets there, you are to execute your plan," Salem said.

Salem ended the call and looked at me. "Cinder, prepare the boy. He has a long trip."

I smiled as I stood up and grabbed the boy's arm. "Sounds good to me."

 **Ruby's POV**

"Hey, Yang. Where are we going today?" I asked.

Yang looked up from Ember Celica and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Weiss said she hot gotten a tip from someone about a possible Dust robbery today downtown."

"Yes. I overheard a couple of people talking about it yesterday when I was shopping. I figured it was worth looking into," Weiss explained.

"Oh. Okay. But why are we going at only 1:00?" I asked.

"I wanted to look around. See if we could find anything as evidence," she sighed.

Just as we finished talking, the Bullhead landed. As we grabbed our supplies, Weiss came over to me.

"Hey, Ruby. In case Bastion is at the robbery tonight, you know what to do?" she whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah. I know, Ozpin made it clear what I was supposed to do. Why?"

Weiss reached into her pocket and pulled something out. Then she grabbed my hand and put the object in it. "Because, you and I both know that you're not going to."

I looked at her, confused. But before I could ask she left and exited the airship. I opened my hand and saw Ranger's Eye. It was in its storage mode. I smiled and looked back at Weiss. Then I grabbed Crescent Rose and jumped off the airship. As soon as I was on the ground the Bullhead took off. I turned to my team.

"Okay, guys. Lets go." I said grinning.

 **-Later That Evening-**

"Weiss, are you sure there was supposed to be a robbery tonight?"

Weiss stopped walking and turned to me. "I was. But now I don't know. Ugh this is just great. We've been out here for 5 hours and we still haven't found anything. I'm sorry guys."

"It's okay Weiss. It's not your fault," I said with a sigh.

 ** _CLANG!_**

I turned my head to the right, looking for the source of the sound I had heard. As I scanned the alleyways, I noticed a few flashing lights in the distance.

"Guys. Look over there," I said as I pointed.

"What's going on over there, I wonder," Yang said as she put her hand on her hip.

"Come on. That might be the robbery," I said as I began jogging to the area.

"Ruby, hold on. Wait for us," Weiss said as her and Yang followed.

 **Blake's POV**

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty-"

I watched as a banana peel landed on Torchwick's head.

"What?" Roman growled as he looked up.

Sun dropped on Torchwick and rolled over to me.

"Leave her alone!" Sun yelled.

Then the Bullheads open up and dozens of White Fang members pour out. As Roman stood back up and brushed himself off, the White Fang ran around and surrounded the two of us. Roman picked up his cane and chuckled at us.

"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" Torchwick asked Sun.

I watched as a handful of White Fang charge at Sun, but he dodged their attacks and manages to kick and punch a few as he rolled out of their reach. He stood and pulled out a collapsible red staff and began to pound on the White Fang that were attacking him. Every attack produced a burst of fire. Then Sun used his staff to deliver a fiery shockwave and send the remaining White Fang flying. It was amazing

I was broke out of my trance when Torchwick fired his cane at Sun. Luckily, Sun noticed and defended himself and reflected the shot. I turned towards the man, and began slashing at him with Gambol Shroud. Somehow he had managed to block every attack and simply laughed at me. I jumped over him in an attempt to find some way to land a hit, but he got lucky and hit me twice. Both hits stunned me and then Torchwick swung his cane again which sent me tumbling to the ground. Before he could attack me again, Sun appeared behind me and disconnected the 2 pieces of his staff into a pair of flaming nunchucks. Sun then began swinging the pair at Roman in a flurry of movement. With each swing of the weapons, a shotgun blast sounded off and a ball of fire erupted from them. Surprisingly though, Roman was able to block every single attack.

I stood up and slashed at him while Sun had him distracted and managed to hit him and knock him back. Torchwick then looked behind him and grinned fired his cane at a storage container that was being held by a crane. I dodged out of the way as it fell, but Sun jumped out of the way, and ended up right in front of the barrel of Torchwick's cane. I heard Roman prime the next bullet in his weapon and waited for the sound.

"Hey!"

 **Ruby's POV**

I stood on top of the building and watched as Roman Torchwick turned to find the source of the voice who had yelled at him. He spotted me and turned.

"Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?" He asked me in a mocking tone as he waved.

"Ruby, we need to help Blake and that Faunus boy!" Yang yelled.

I turned and nodded at my sister. While I was distracted, I barely noticed as Roman pointed his cane at the building the three of us were standing on. He fired and a ball of fire shot out and hit the building. The explosion blew a hole right below me and sent me falling to the floor. I landed on my back, the air flying out of my lungs and left me stunned. I took a moment to catch my breath and then I stood up and grabbed Crescent Rose. I extended her into scythe mode and looked at Torchwick.

"Wow, you're a tough one, kid. But I don't think you should worry about me," he said as he lowered his cane. "Hey, Fido! Come and say hello to our guests!"

I stared at him and then heard one of the doors open on one of the shipping containers. My stomach instantly dropped as I saw who stepped out. Bastion came out, his stomach glowing a deep red and his eyes full of anger.

"Bastion! What are you doing here?" I yelled at him.

He just ignored me and walked over next to Torchwick, who simply laughed.

"Oh, don't even bother. This little guy has had his noggin beat up and played with so many times in the last week, I doubt he even remembers you, kid," he grabbed a metal baton from one of the bodies of the White Fang and handed it to Bastion.

"Get rid of them," he said as he walked away.

"Yes sir. With pleasure," Bastion grinned evilly as he stomped over to me.

I backed up and tried to talk to him. "Bastion, stop it. This isn't you. I'm your friend."

He ignored me and instead swung the baton at me. I ducked out of the way and heard the denting off metal as the baton hit the wall behind me. Bastion growled at me and turned around to face me. He looked like crap. His arms and face were burned, wherever he had been for the past week, it wasn't good. He swung at me another time but I rose the handle of Crescent Rose to block it. The two weapons collided with each other with a loud bang; I pushed back but he was strong. Deciding to change tactics, I kicked him in the leg. He fell to his knees and I backflipped backwards and looked up.

"Yang, Weiss are you guys okay? I need some help here!" I yelled.

I saw Yang slowly rise to her feet and help Weiss stand. Both of them had a few black burn spots on their clothes but, other than that, they seemed fine.

"Yeah, we're fine Ruby! Hang on!" Yang shouted back.

Both of them jumped off the rooftop and landed behind Bastion just as he stood up. Bastion turned slightly to see the newcomers to the fight.

"Howdy, just thought we would _drop_ in," Yang said with a grin. Weiss elbowed her in the side. "Right, sorry."

The two of them readied their weapons and got into a combat stance. I looked behind me to look for Torchwick but he was leaving in a Bullhead. I noticed Blake and the Faunus boy running over to us, their weapons also ready.

"Hey, thought you'd want some help with tall, dark, and pissed off," the boy said.

I nodded and looked back at Bastion.

"Bastion, I don't want to do this, but if you don't stop, you'll leave me with no choice."

"SHUT UP! You never cared about me. I'm a monster. I'm not even human. I was a science experiment! MY LIFE IS A LIE!" he screamed.

"That's not true! You're our friend. Our teammate. We don't care if you're some sort of experiment. I made you a promise, and I'm not about to break it," I yelled back.

He grabbed his head. "Stop it! You're just trying to trick me! Salem told me you'd do this. You're not even here, Ruby. You're a ghost. You're dead. You were killed by that mercenary!"

I had heard enough. There wasn't any way this was going to end the way I wanted it to. I charged Bastion and swung Crescent Rose. He was too quick, though, and he grabbed the handle and punched me in the stomach. My aura flared as his fist came into contact with it, but I still stumbled back; Weiss and Yang jumped into action, with Weiss sending shards of ice at him and Yang getting into a fist-fight with him. Bastion seemingly effortlessly blocked Yang's punches and dodged the ice for the most part, but a few strays hit him in the side. He glared at Weiss and began stomping towards her, only to be stopped by the Faunus boy, who jumped in front of him and started swinging his staff. I jumped in to help and started swinging Crescent Rose at him and made contact with his back. The blade of my scythe slashed his clothes partially and made a slight cut, but he ignored it and kept fighting his other attackers. He reached out and grabbed the staff, used it to hit the Faunus in the side of the head. It left him dazed enough for Bastion to grab him by the throat and throw him at Weiss and Yang, both of which were reloading their weapons. All 3 of them landed in a heap, unconscious, which left me and Blake. He turned to us and picked up the staff. He began spinning it wildly in his hands, smirking the entire time.

"Bastion, stop!" I yelled.

Again he ignored me and threw the staff at us. We ducked, but in the time we did, he ran over to us and began to attack Blake. He started to swing the baton at her and she block it. He raised his arm to club her in the head, but she swing her swords and hit him in the leg and arm, causing him to drop it. He looked at his leg which was bruised, but still okay; his aura had taken the blunt of the attack. Blake spun around in an attempt to hit him in a flurry of attacks, but was stopped as he extended his leg, tripping her to the ground. He stood and kicked her in the face, knocking her out cold.

"Blake!" I was terrified, he had single handedly defeated everyone. Now it was just me. "Bastion, don't do this please!" I screamed at him as I backed up slowly.

He looked down and grabbed one of Blake's swords, twirled it around in his hand, and then began slowly walking to me. "Get out of my head, Ruby. I know you're not real. Now, just give it up. There's nothing you can do to stop me from killing them all," he said with an evil grin.

I glared at him. "Yes, I can. Because I'm not dead. I'm right here. Besides, if I weren't real, could I have hit you earlier?"

He stopped and stared at me. His eyes grew huge and he double over gripping his head. Then he began screaming incoherently. I walked over to him and tried to touch him but he shoved my hand away and stared at me in pain.

"Ruby. Make it stop! It hurts! Why does it hurt!" he screamed at me.

I was scared. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was going on and he was yanking on his face. Then in an instant he stopped and stood up straight. I looked around as if looking for something and stopped when his eyes met mine. Then he glared again. He charged at me fast, and before I could raise my aura again he punched me in the chest. The blow had so much force it sent me flying. Crescent Rose flew out of my hand and towards the others as it skid across the ground. I hit the ground again and rolled a few feet, and came to a stop as I hit the side of a shipping container. I looked over to my right and saw Bastion stomping his way over to me. As he got closer, I realized it was over.

 _I'm going to die, right here. And the only thing I regret is not being able to help him._

He kept on going, his eyes completely red with rage and determination to kill. I heard the sound of something metal being stepped on and looked down at the ground next to him. He lifted his boot, and underneath it was Ranger's Eye. It must've fallen out of my pocket. He reached down to pick it up and looked at it a moment, then the glowing in his eyes and on his torso stopped. He dropped Ranger's Eye and fell to the ground.

"R-ruby..." he said as he fainted.

I stood up and gripped my chest. I was sure he had broken a rib or two, but I didn't care at the moment. My aura was still strong enough to dull the pain. I walked over to him and knelt beside him. As I examined him, I noticed a metal collar, of sorts, on his neck. It had the markings of Grimm etched into it. I grabbed it and yanked on it. It broke in half and I tossed it away.

"Ruby, are you alright?"

I turned to see everyone else standing in a group behind me. Everyone had bruises on them, and Blake was holding her arm. Yang stepped forward and came over to look at Bastion.

"Is he... dead?" Weiss asked.

I shook my head. "No, he just fainted. He picked up Ranger's Eye and then he fainted. He kept saying that I was a ghost. I think whoever kidnapped him had told him that I was dead," I explained.

"Didn't he say something about someone named Salem?" Blake asked.

I nodded. "Yeah." I looked back to them. "Do any of you guys recognize that name?"

They all shook their heads. Whoever that was, she was a mystery. Then I remembered the conversation Bastion and I had when he had woken up in the hospital.

 _"Earlier, when you attacked me, you said that you and 'the white woman' were going to stop me from destroying the world. Who is she?"_

 _"I don't really know. I only met her a couple of days before I came here."_

 _"Before you came here?"_

 _"She saved me from where I used to live, in the ruins of Mountain Glenn. She told me that if I killed the girl with silver eyes, she would help me."_

I stood up and looked at everyone. "Guys, I think Salem is the one who told Bastion to kill me when we met. Whoever she is, she seems to be connected to Bastion's kidnapping."

They all looked at each other, then back at me.

"So what now?" The Faunus asked.

"I don't know. I guess we go back to beacon and explain what happened tonight," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

I pulled out my scroll and called the pilot of the Bullhead that had dropped us off earlier today. I let them know we were ready to go back to Beacon. The pilot said he was on his way and within a half hour we were on board heading back to school.

 **Ying's POV**

"How was I supposed to know that Torchwick was get his ass handed to him?"

Salem glared at me. "That isn't the point. My point is that we lost the boy AGAIN!"

I flinched. Salem seriously gave me the creeps. I didn't like being alone with her, I was always afraid she would send a Beowulf to kill me or something. Now I had to explain to her that Torchwick had failed to finish the robbery because the kids from Beacon had interrupted. And her little science experiment was gone again. _AND_ to top it all off, the damned girl had survived getting stabbed in the gut.

"I'm sorry. I'll take care of it. Just give me another chance, please." I begged.

She shook her head. "No, you failed to kill the girl, you fail to ensure the success of the Dust robbery, and you failed to ensure that the boy would be safe. Obviously, you are too incompetent to do anything I ask."

I looked at my feet. She was right, not about the incompetence, but everything else was correct. I had failed, repeatedly. I looked back up at her. She still looked pissed.

"S-so what do you want me to do, now?"

She turned and walked over to a window and stared out of it. "Get out. I have no need of you, anymore."

"What about my payment?" I asked.

She threw me a small plastic box. I opened it and inside were 30,000Ⱡ. I looked up and frowned at her.

"That's all I get?"

"Yes. Be glad I am paying you at all. After what failures you have performed, I was going to not even pay you at all. Be grateful."

I sighed and closed the case, then I turned and left the room.

 _Now what do I do? I haven't had a job for months. This is just great. Maybe I can get a job as a security guard somewhere..._

 **-2 Days After The Robbery-**

 **Bastion's POV**

 _"No, no, no, no! Get away from me! Please don't burn me again!"_

 _"Stop moving, and take it! It's either this, or you get to play with the Beowolves."_

 _"NOOOOOO!"_

I woke up sweating. I had another nightmare. As I sat up, I noticed a burning sensation on all of my limbs and on my face. I reached up to touch my face and make sure I was alive and I was startled by what I felt. There were distinguishable burn marks all over my face. Like someone had thrown hot oil on my face. I looked at the rest of my body, and sure enough, I had burns everywhere else. My torso had a large bandage over it and I could see pink in the cloth. Then I noticed I had IV tubes attached to my arms. I was back in the hospital.

"Bastion? Are you awake?"

I looked up to see Ruby standing in the doorway of the room I was in; she was holding a vase with flowers in it. She walked over and set the vase down on a table and then turned around and stood there, staring at me.

"How, are you feeling?" She asked.

I tried to talk, but nothing came out. I grabbed my throat, trying to figure out what was wrong. I couldn't speak.

"Oh, here. I brought you this." Ruby opened a small bag she had brought and pulled out a small whiteboard and marker. She handed them both to me. I stared at them for a moment and then looked back at her, confused as hell.

"The doctor's said that you were hurt pretty bad. They said it was a miracle you were even able to fight like you did."

I cocked my head to the side, as if telling her what the whiteboard was for.

"Oh, that. The doctors said that due to all the burns on and in your body, you might not be able to talk for a few days. So I brought you this so you could communicate with people."

I nodded. Then I grabbed the board and marker and wrote a message. I held it up for her to see and she sighed and sat down.

 _"Thanks for the whiteboard. But what happened?"_

"After we were attacked in the forest, you were kidnapped. I don't know what happened to you, but a week later we found you working for Roman Torchwick. He told you to get rid of us, and you attacked. You eventually saw and picked up your scythe and then you fainted. When I looked at you, there was a collar with Grimm markings on it. What was it?"

I wrote her another message.

 _"It was a collar that triggered my Grimm DNA. It made it so that I was always enraged. I'm sorry I attacked you."_

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I was more worried about you. But now you're okay, and when you get batter you can go back to Beacon."

 _"Ruby, you still want me on your team? Why? I've attacked you twice and almost got you killed. Why would you want to be around me after that?"_

Ruby smiled. "Because, I made you a promise. And I don't intend on breaking it. Besides..." Her cheeks turned red. "I kind of like having you around,"she finished softly.

I stopped and stared at her. Then I slowly wrote my next message. The whole time I felt fuzzy.

 _"I-I thank you, Ruby. I like being around, too."_

Ruby smiled and gave me a hug. While she was hugging me she whispered into my ear.

"Just promise me, next time you go missing: make sure you leave a note."

I nodded as she let go of me. She smiled and left.

 _I promise._

 **Oh my god. This was the longest chapter yet. I'm glad though, I feel like I ended this chapter well. So, that's the end of the events of Volume 1. I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I want to thank you for sticking around for the ride so far. I'm probably going to take a few days to rewatch Volume 2 so that it's fresh in my mind when I start writing chapter 10. But I won't take to long.**

 **Feel free to leave me a review and again, thank you!**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	10. More Than Friends

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Welcome back to The Ranger and The Rose. This chapter is the official start of Volume 2. This chapter is going to be a bit calmer than the last few. I figured it was time for a calm one, so here you go. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **-One Week After The Events Of Chapter 9-**

 **Bastion's POV**

"I've got you now, Ruby Rose..." I steadied my aim, making sure that my shot would hit. I zeroed in on Ruby's back and pulled the trigger. The shot fired and erupted from the barrel of my gun. A moment later a big black smear appeared on her back. She turned and looked around for a moment then she saw me. I was perched high in a tree, gun aimed at her grinning.

"Aww, come on. How am I supposed to find you, if you keep hiding in the trees?" She said as she took off the googles she had been wearing.

I jumped down and landed with a soft thump. As I approached her, I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Well, that's the point of paintball. You're supposed to be sneaky."

She sighed an pulled her cloak around to look at it. "You got paint all over my cloak, Bastion. Now it's ruined,"she whined slightly.

"No it's not. I made sure to get the type of paint that washes out easy," I said shaking my head.

She looked back up at me and smiled. "Oh, well in that case." she raised her gun at me and shot me 3 times in the chest. I was knocked to the floor, laughing.

"H-hey, it may just be paintballs, but it still kind of hurts, you know."

She nodded and smiled at me. "I know, I've already been shot like 30 times this afternoon."

I scratched the back of my head as I stood back up. "I've won that many times?" I asked sheepishly.

"Yes. Consider those 3 shots as payback." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Fine. We'd better head back, it's getting late, and I'm getting hungry."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, me too."

We started the walk back to Beacon. The entire trip we talked about school stuff and laughed at each other when the other would make a joke. It was fun. I had fun, the first fun I had been able to have since I had met Salem. It had been a week since I woke up in the hospital after the failed Dust robbery, and so far nothing unusual had happened. The mark on my stomach hadn't changed, and I was able to keep my Grimm side under control. Everything was great. I had excelled in my classes and even was able to eventually buy a hammock for the dorm, that way I didn't need to sleep on my beanbag chair anymore.

We eventually made it back to Beacon, after about an hour and only a couple of Grimm encounters, both of which were easy. We started up the stairs to the main building and then Ruby stopped. I looked back at her and saw she had her hands behind her back.

"What are you doing, Ruby? Aren't you hungry?" I asked as I walked towards her.

"Yeah, but I wanted to give you something," she said with a huge smile.

"What?"

She giggled at me. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

I did as I was told and then felt a light object fall into my grasp.

"Okay, go ahead and open them."

I opened my eyes and saw a small, red, rectangular box. I looked at Ruby, who was staring at m in anticipation.

"Well, go on open it."

I slowly opened the box, being careful not to damage it, and gasped at what I saw. Inside was a small, black metal rose. I lifted it up and looked at it, then looked at Ruby.

"Do you like it?"She asked me.

"I love it, but what's it for?"

"You can put it on your scythe, that way you don't have that weird emblem on it anymore. I figured this would be better, make it look cooler."

I smiled as I put the rose back in the box. "Thank you, Ruby. That's very sweet."

"You're welcome."

I looked down as I put the box in my pocket. But I was surprised when Ruby grabbed my hands and stared at me.

"W-what?" I said chuckling.

She didn't say anything. Instead she leaned up and kissed me on the lips. I was totally dumbfounded. She backed up when she let go and blushed as she began fiddling with her hands.

"Ruby..." I whispered.

"S-sorry, I don't know why I did that. Please don't hate me,"she stammered.

I reached out and grabbed her hands. "Stop. I don't hate you. To be honest, I kind of liked it."

She looked at me in surprise. "R-really?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It felt... nice."

We stood there for a few minutes not saying anything. We just stared into each other's eyes. After about 5 minutes or so, my stomach growled loudly. I looked at my gut and laughed.

"Oh yeah, food," I said.

"Oh, I forgot."

"Come on, I'm sure the others are probably wondering where we are," I said as I began walking up the stairs.

"Right." Ruby skipped up the stairs next to me and grabbed my hand. And together we walked into the doors.

I looked at Ruby as we walked towards the cafeteria. "Hey, does this mean we're..."

She looked back at me and smiled. "A thing?"

I nodded and she laughed, which caused me to laugh.

"Sure. Why not," She said as we walked. "Just promise me, no matter what, even when your Grimm side takes over, you'll keep me safe."

I hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment. Then I answered.

"I promise to always keep you safe, Ruby Rose."

"Good."

* * *

 **oO_Oo**

 **Well that certainly was interesting...**

 **Anyways, so yeah, I know I said that I was going to take a few days to rewatch Volume 2, but it turns out, it only took me a few hours. So I decided to make this. I thought it was a good idea, course my opinion doesn't really matter. The only opinions that matter are yours.**

 **So please, go ahead and leave me a review, let me know what you think. And please have a wonderful Holiday season.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**

 **P.S. Happy Holidays!**


	11. Food Fight

**Author's Note:  
Hey! How's it going? So in this chapter I'd thought I would introduce a new character, his name is Oringo Jarvis. He's going to be part of a new team that I will be making called Team BOBY. And, yes, Bastion will eventually be a part of this new team. So here we go, ENJOY!**

* * *

 **Oringo's POV**

I can't say that my first impression of Bastion Ranger was a great one. In fact, I really didn't feel like he was quite right, in the head. Not that there's anything wrong with him, he just gave me the creeps. The first time I ever saw him, he had just attacked a few people during a sparring match. He ended up getting his ass kicked, but he was freaking crazy. His eyes glowed red and he had some sort of red thornbush on his clothes that glowed as well.

So when I had heard that he would be coming back to school after he had attacked people again, I was shocked. It was only after a conversation with him during lunch one day, that I realized why he was so different.

"So, Ranger, I got a question for you," I said as I sat down next to him.

He looked at me, probably shocked that I was talking to him. After all, nobody other than his teammates and Team JNPR ever paid attention to him.

"Okay, shoot," he said.

"I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but you mind telling me why you attacked those people who were sparring that one day?"

Bastion sighed as he dropped the fork he had been holding. "Fine, I'll tell you. Just not right now. Not today at least. I've got to go see Professor Ozpin. Sorry, maybe another time."

He got up and left. I didn't want to rush him, but I couldn't help but feel he was hiding something.

That was a week ago. Since then, he and I have become friends. We hope to eventually become a team, hopefully. But it all depends on whether or not he tells me his secret. Until then, I guess I'll just wait.

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

"So, Sun, how you been lately?" I asked as Sun and I walked towards the cafeteria.

He looked at me smiling. "Me? Oh, I've been great. Just hanging around, and stuff."

I chuckled at him. "That's good."

"How, about you man? You been okay since that night at the docks?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I've been okay. Just nervous."

"What are you nervous about?" One of Sun's friends asked. His name was Neptune. He had blue hair, in an undercut; he wore a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket with a wide, upturned, black collar and a pair of gray jeans with black padding strapped to the sides. And he had a pair of yellow tinted goggles on top of his forehead.

"I just can't shake the feeling that Salem is going to come after me again. I mean, I still don't fully remember everything that happened to me when she had me, but the stuff I do remember scares me."

"Ah, don't worry about it man. I'm sure you'll be okay. Besides, you haven't had an episode since you came back to school, right?" Sun asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. If anything was going to happen, it would've happened by now."

They both nodded. "Exactly," Neptune said.

We continued walking for a few minutes until we reached the cafeteria. I looked at the door; I heard yelling and the sound of things breaking.

"What is going on in there?" Sun asked.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. "I dunno."

I grabbed the handle of the door and opened it slightly. We all peered inside and were shocked by what was occurring inside. Most of the students were running towards the door in a panic. Before any of us could react, the doors swung open, knocking us all on our asses. A stampede of people ran out and fled the large room. I covered my eyes and waited until the people stopped coming out. Once I was sure no one else was coming I lowered my arm and looked into the cafeteria again. Inside, Team JNPR and my team were having a food fight. There was a fortress of sorts at the far end that was made of the tables and vending machines. It looked like Team JNPR was using it as a fort, while my team was getting ready to assault it.

"Um, is this a common occurrence here?" Neptune asked from behind me.

I turned to face the two of them, they were dusting themselves off and shaking their heads.

"No... but it looks like fun!" I said with a grin.

Before they could respond, I ran into the room and grabbed a couple of loaves of bread.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

I looked up and Nora was standing on the top of the table fort dancing. Then I watched as Ruby jumped on top of a table and stomped her foot down on a tray. She had a carton of milk in her hand.

"Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!" Ruby crushed the carton in her hand, causing milk to burst from it. "It will be delicious!"

The rest of my team shot their hands into the air. "Yeah!"

Nora stood defiantly and pointed. "Off with their heads!" Nora jumped down. And immediately shit hit the fan.

"Yang! Turkey!" Ruby yelled as she continued to stand on the table.

I ran into the room as Yang grabbed a couple of turkeys and began to block and smash watermelons with the two birds, as if they were her usual gauntlets. I charged at the fort and began throwing my many loaves of bread like javelins in an attempt to disorient someone. They missed and instead hit the back wall. I began searching for another 'weapon' as Blake grabbed two more loaves of bread and smashed even more flying watermelons. Then Yang threw the two turkeys that she had been using and they both smacked Jaune. Blake ran up to Pyhrra and began fighting her with baguettes as well, and Ren had begun attacking people with leeks. Eventually I found something and began throwing cans of soda around, after I had shaken them. When the cans hit anything they would break open in a mist of soda, almost like a grenade. Weiss eventually was sent flying into a wall and knocked out, which sent Ruby into a frenzy. She activated her semblance and caused a whirlwind of food and soda to slam Team JNPR into the far wall. Then the tornado of food slammed into them and covered them completely. After they fell off the wall, I could distinctly make out the outlines their bodies had made in the stain of food that had caked the wall.

It was then that Goodwitch walked in. And she looked pissed. She used her riding crop to levitate all of the tables and food back to the way they were supposed to be. She also fixed everything that had been broken. When she finished, she pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

"I love these guys," I heard Sun say. I turned around to see him and Neptune still standing by the door. Sun looked like he wanted another food fight start so he could join. And Neptune... was covered in purple soda. He did not look pleased.

"Children, don't play with your food," Glynda said.

Nora burped and we all started laughing hysterically.

Professor Ozpin walked in next and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Let it go."

Glynda sighed. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."

"And they will be. But right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part," Ozpin began walking away from Glynda, towards the door. "After all, it isn't a roll they'll have forever."

I shivered at what he said, but decided to pay no attention to it. Instead, I walked over to Sun and Neptune. Neptune had begun trying to clean his clothes with a large amount of wet-wipes. I frowned.

"Um, Neptune, you do know that using water would be easier, right?" I asked.

He looked up at me, his face now clean. "Y-yeah, I know. I just wanted to do this instead."

I looked at him for a moment and then just sighed as I decided to let him be. I looked at Sun. "You okay?"

He laughed and nodded. "Dude, that was awesome! Yeah, I'm fine. But I kind of want to have another one start so I can join in."

I laughed. "Yeah, that would be fun to do it again," I admitted. "Well, I'll talk to you guys later, okay? I'm going to go hang with my team for a bit before dinner."

"Alright, see you later, man," Sun said. He stuck out his fist and smiled.

I stared at him. "What are you doing?" I asked, looking at his fist.

His face changed to look like he was completely dumbfounded. "Are you serious? You don't know what a fistbump is?"

I shook my head. "No, why is it important?"

"Yeah, kind of," Sun said as he dropped his hand.

"Why, what's it mean?" I asked.

"Friends do it when they do something cool together, or when they want to show a sign of respect. Or they do it when they mean to say 'see you later." Neptune explained while he continued to clean his jacket.

"Oh. I get it, now." I said nodding.

Sun raised his fist again, to which I responded by doing the same. He then hit my fist with his and made an explosion sound with his mouth. I laughed at him for a second, but then made the same type of noise.

"See? There you go. Now you know what a fistbump is," Sun said grinning.

"Thanks, buddy," I said as I waved. Then I walked over to my team. Ruby was sitting on top of a table laughing with the rest of Team RWBY, while Team JNPR was sitting on a table across from them laughing just as loud.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" I asked everyone.

They looked at me and grinned while giggling.

"What? Do I have food on my face?"

Ruby shook her head. "No, in fact it's the lack of food on you that's funny," she said as she picked up a soda can. She stood up and began shaking it as she walked towards me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Then everyone else picked up soda cans and began walking over. Ruby stopped about a foot away from me and smiled. Then she pointed the can of soda at me and opened it. A geyser of purple soda erupted from the can and onto my uniform.

"Oh, come on Ruby," I groaned. Then everybody else opened their cans at me, which caused a flood of soda to slam into me, completely drenching my clothes.

They all started laughing at me and I frowned.

 _Seriously? They couldn't just let me be clean..._

"There you go, Bastion. Much better," Ruby said laughing.

"Oh, really? Is it now?" I asked as I tackled her.

"Ah!" she yelled as I slammed into her. I grabbed a carton of milk and turned it upside down and opened it, releasing it's contents onto her hair.

"I win," I said as I stuck my tongue out at her.

She laughed some more and pushed me off of her. "We should probably go get cleaned off," she said shaking some of the milk out of her hair.

"Yeah, I don't want any of this food to get dry on my clothes," Weiss said as she looked at her own uniform.

"Okay, let's go everyone. We can hang out after we get cleaned off," Jaune said.

* * *

 **Torchwick's POV**

 _What a day... Maybe now, after planning all of these robberies, I can finally relax..._

I heard footsteps from behind me. I turned to see Cinder's lackeys walking into the warehouse we were using.

"Oh look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out worse than the divorce," I said as I grabbed Emerald and Mercury and pulled them into an embrace. I felt Emerald shiver.

"Please, spare us the thought of you procreating," she said, disgusted.

They pulled out of my faux hug and I walked away from them, careful to grab the small scrap of paper that was sticking out of Emerald's pocket.

 _"That_ was a joke. And _this_... just might tell me where you two have been all day," I said as I displayed the paper.

"What?! Agh..." Emerald groaned.

"I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something," I said a I looked at the writing on the paper. On it was an address that I knew very well. "Why do you have this address?"

Emerald crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I crumpled the piece of paper at her response. "Yeah, I would. Now where have you been all day?"

"Cleaning up your problem. _One_ of them anyway," Mercury said defiantly.

 _"I had that under control,"_ I growled.

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise," Mercury quipped.

"Listen, you little punk. If it were up to me, I would take you and your little street rat friend and-"

"Do what, Roman?"

I turned to see Cinder walking on a catwalk behind us. She stepped onto an automated lift and rode it down to our level.

I chuckled nervously. "I'd uh... _not_ kill them?"

Emerald jumped with glee upon seeing the woman. "Cinder!"

Cinder ignored her, instead she scolded me. "I thought I told you to eliminate the would-be runaway."

"I was going to..."

Emerald interrupted me. "He was going to escape to Vacuo! Mercury and _I_ decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat."

"I think he was some sort of a cat, actually," Mercury commented.

"What, like a puma?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, there you go."

Cinder turned towards the two. "Quiet. Did I not _specifically_ instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?"

I pointed at them and silently laughed at them.

Emerald frowned. "I just thought..."

I mocked them by putting my finger to my throat like I was slitting my throat.

"Don't think... obey," Cinder said calmly.

Emerald looked at the floor. "Yes ma'am. It won't happen again."

Cinder turned towards me again. "As for you. Why wasn't this job done sooner?"

"Uh..? Eh..? Eh..? EHHHHH!" I pointed at the many containers around the warehouse we were in. "Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!"

Mercury chuckled. "Yeah. You're an inspiration to every kid with a gun and a ski mask."

I pointed at the boy. "Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the _roof, and_ we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and _rounds_ than we know what to do with! Speaking of which, _if_ you guys wouldn't mind filling me _in_ on your grand master plan, it _might_ make my next string of robberies go a little _smoother_!"

Cinder smiled as she walked over to me and placed a hand on my cheek. "Oh, Roman. Have a little faith. You'll know what you need to know when you need to know it."

I shook her hand off of my face and grunted.

"Besides, we're done with Dust," she said as she walked away.

"Okay, then what now?" I asked.

She didn't look at me, she just kept walking. "We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you more details tonight."

"Details?" I asked quietly.

"We're proceeding to phase two," she said as she beckoned the two teenagers to follow her.

 _Great. This is just great. All this Dust, and I don't get to use any of it._

I pulled out a cigar and stuck it in my mouth. When I went for my lighter, I realized it was gone. I looked around and then saw Emerald standing by the door with my lighter. She stuck her tongue out at me and walked away with it.

"Why that little..." I said under my breath.

* * *

 **TADAAA!**

 **I'm back! I hoped you enjoyed the first official chapter of Volume 2. I know I enjoyed writing it. Especially the food fight scene. I really wanted to do that. I even implemented a bit of my own personality into what Bastion did during and after the fight.**

 **That being said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know it wasn't very story driven until the end, but I'm hoping I still did a good job. So feel free to leave a review. Go ahead and tell me your thoughts about Oringo, too. I know he didn't have much in this chapter but I will be introducing the final member of Team BOBY in the next chapter. After that, I plan on officially putting the team together.  
**

 **Again thank you, and have a wonderful holiday season.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	12. To The Grave

**Author's Note: This is the first of many 'Alternate Endings,' that I will be making for this story. This ending is an alternative to what happened in Chapter 7, "Field Trip Of Death. This ending will be a lot darker than hat actually happened, but I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Bastion's POV**

We eventually found a large enough tree for all of us to get our sap from. Weiss had used Myrtenaster to stab a hole large enough for us to insert a spigot and then we all took turns to get our jars of sap. After a while everyone but Ruby had a full jar. I had sat down under a tree and began to polish Ranger's Eye when I heard an odd noise.

 ** _ROOOOAAAAR!_**

"Did you guys hear that?" I said as I looked up from my weapon.

Weiss and Blake looked in the direction of the noise. "Yeah, what do you think it was?"

"It kind of sounded like an Ursa,"Yang said.

 _"That's a big Ursa!"_

"That sounded like one of the guys in team CRDL,"Ruby said as she tightened the lid on her jar of sap.

I stood up and extended Ranger's Eye into rifle mode. "You guys go get Professor Noro. I'll go see if I can help."

"Wait, Bastion, are you crazy?" yelled Weiss.

I turned and gave her a smug grin. "Maybe, but if team CRDL is in trouble, then I will be able to help them. Besides, no offense but I'll be able to move quicker by myself."

"Okay. But you'd better be careful. If you get killed, I'm bringing you back to life just so I can kill you again for being stupid." Weiss said.

I gave them a thumbs up and ran to go help the members of team CRDL.

As I got closer to where the noise had come from, I noticed that it was strangely quiet. I eventually ended up in a clearing where sure enough I saw team CRDL and Jaune standing. The body of an Ursa laid in front of them and Jaune was cleaning his sword off.

"Are you guys okay?" I asked.

Jaune looked over to me and waved. "Hey, Bastion. Yeah, we're okay. We took care of it."

"Oh, okay. I just heard an Ursa and so I can to see if I could help," I said as I transformed Ranger's Eye and put it into its glove.

"Yeah, we're okay. Thanks though." Jaune said. He turned to Cardin, the leader of team CRDL. "We'd better head back. Come on Cardin."

As they left I walked over to the body of the Grimm as it began to evaporate. "Hmm, that was quick. How were they able to take down this Ursa so quickly?" I said out loud.

As I turned around and got ready to leave, I saw a metal canister fly and hit the ground in front of me.

"What the hell? What's that thing supp-"

 _ **BANG!**_

I was blinded as the canister exploded into a huge deafening flash. As I struggled to regain my senses I heard the sound of a gun go off. Then I felt an impact hit me in the side as I fell to the ground.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little science experiment gone wrong. Man, that was way too easy."

As my vision cleared, I saw a man wearing leather tuxedo with red, leather fedora. He was walking towards me with what looked like a syringe. I struggled to my feet and readied Ranger's Eye.

"Oh, gonna put up a fight, are we?" He chuckled as he put the syringe away and lightly tapped his boots together. I heard the distinct noise of a shotgun being primed and knew his boots were his weapons.

I charged at the man, who responded by sidestepping and kicking me in the ribs, sending me to the ground again.

 _Man, this is going to be painful. Wait, I totally forgot about my aura._

I channeled my energy and raised my aura into a personal shield to keep myself protected. As I did he fired a shotgun shell at me, which only bounced off of the barrier.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. Okay, then kid. Let's play."

* * *

 **Ruby's POV**

"Do you guys think Bastion will be okay?" I asked the others.

Yang looked at me with a smile. "If anyone would be able to handle an Ursa, it would be Bastion. I'm sure he'll be fine, Rubes."

As soon as Yang finished speaking we all heard an explosion coming from the direction Bastion had gone.

"You just had to open your mouth," Weiss said with a groan.

"Come on, guys. Bastion's in trouble," I said as I ran to help Bastion.

I activated my semblance and was now racing through the forest to where the explosion had come from. I found myself in a clearing where I saw Bastion trying to fight a man in a tuxedo. He didn't look like he was doing okay. His nose and mouth were bleeding, and he was holding his ribs, while leaning on his scythe in order to stand up straight. I watched as the man kicked Bastion in the side and sent him flying into a tree.I pulled Crescent Rose off my back and transformed her into scythe mode.

"Hey! Leave Bastion alone!" I shouted as I got into a combat stance.

The man turned to face me and grinned. "Well, it looks like the freak has a friend. Don't worry about the boy, girly. He's not really a real person."

I grew angry and charged at the man, attempting to slash at his arms. He kicked in my direction. A bullet flew in my direction and exploded in a cloud of Fire Dust. The explosion knocked me to the ground as my aura surged. I stood up again and looked at Bastion, he was coughing up blood and struggling to aim his scythe at the stranger.

"Ruby, get out of here. This guy is dangerous!" Bastion yelled at me. He coughed again and fired his weapon at his attacker, who just laughed as the bullet bounced off of his aura.

I shook my head as the man started stomping back over towards Bastion. "No! You need my help!" I shouted back. I raised Crescent Rose above my shoulder and charged again, this time with even more speed. As I got closer and swung my weapon, I noticed the man stop moving. Before I could react he shot his arm out next to him. Unable to slow down, I ran into his arm and fell to the ground, the wind being knocked out of me. As I laid on the ground the many smiled and raised his foot. I heard the sound of a gun being primed and then I rolled to the left as he stomped down, blowing a hole in the ground with his foot.

 _"Great, it's like Yang's gauntlets. Only, he has it on his feet. This is terrific,"_ I thought to myself.

I got up of the ground and readied my scythe again, and watched as the man kicked Bastion in the stomach again. His aura took the blow, but I could tell that he wasn't going to be able to take much more. I transformed Crescent Rose into her sniper-rifle form and slapped a magazine of Burn dust rounds into the receiver. Once I racked the slide of the rifle I slammed the blade of my scythe into the dirt and yelled at the man.

"Hey! I said: leave him alone!"

The man turned and smiled wickedly at me then he started running towards me. I began firing at him, in the hopes of stopping him, but he just continued running as the bullets hit his aura and burst into a cloud of fire. Once he got close enough, I yanked Crescent Rose out of the ground and swung it again. He easily ducked under the blade and tripped me as he did. I hit the ground again and he reached down and pulled my scythe out of my hands. He grinned.

"Not a bad weapon you got here girly. I'll be sure to use it well." He raised my scythe above him and prepared to swing, but before he did I heard a gunshot ring out and looked over towards where Bastion was.

Bastion was leaning on his scythe, which was embedded in the ground in its rifle form. The barrel was smoking and he was glaring at the man.

"Get away from Ruby," He said as he racked the slide on his scythe. "Now!"

The man turned and chuckled. "You just don't get it, do you kid? Wow, when she said you were thick-headed, she meant it. Oh well, time to end this." He bent his knees and charged at Bastion.

Bastion tried to fire at the man, but lost his balance due to his wounds and fell to the ground. As he struggled to get back on his feet, the man reached his target and kicked Bastion's scythe away. It clattered on a tree as it flew, and the man smiled as he looked at Bastion.

"Now, you're coming with me, boy," he said menacingly.

"NOO!" I yelled as I activated my semblance and raced towards the man. I swung my fists at him as I got next to him, but he quickly blocked it with his boot. I continued my assault and each time, I was blocked by his boots. I could fell my Aura dropping from the use of my semblance. I was getting tired, and I knew he could tell. He grinned and then kicked at me, the blast of a gun rang out and a fireball erupted from his feet. The resulting explosion blew me back and onto the ground as he laughed at me. He walked over and raised my scythe again.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" He said as he began to swing.

"No, she doesn't."

I looked behind the man and saw Bastion standing behind him. He was bleeding profusely now, and could barely stand. He grabbed Crescent Rose and began wrestling it away from the man. As they fought I crawled away to grab Bastion's scythe. Once I grabbed it I heard a distinct slicing sound. I turned, in a panic, and saw the worst thing I ever saw.

Bastion was standing there, his chest had a massive gouge in it and Crescent Rose was embedded in his abdomen. The man had a face of shock and was backing away.

"BASTION!" I screamed. I dropped the scythe I was holding and ran over to him as he fell to the ground.

I picked him up and held him, as tears began forming in my eyes. "B-bastion, no. H-hang on, I'm going to get you out of here, o-okay?"

He coughed; blood splattered onto my skirt and corset, as he slowly reached for my hand.

"R-ruby, stop. Y-you and I both know th-that's not going to hap-" He coughed again and shuddered.

I looked down at his shoulder where Crescent Rose was, there were huge amounts of blood gushing from the wound. I looked back at his face to see him smiling.

"W-why are you smiling?" I asked through the sobs that now racked my body.

"B-because. I'm happy." His grip on my hand got weaker.

"Why? You're dying? W-why would you be happy?"

He closed his eyes for a moment before he answered. "B-because, I met you," He opened his eyes again. "B-before I met you, my life was h-horrible. I had n-n-nobody, and then I met you. And you became my friend."

I wiped some of the blood off of his face and smiled. "I'm sorry."

"F-for... what?" he asked me slowly. I could tell he was almost gone, it just made me hurt even more.

"I made you a promise. Friends to the end, r-remember?"

He reached his hand up to my face and smiled again. "You haven't broke your promise. I may be dying now, but it's okay." He shuddered and coughed, hard. Blood flew from his mouth and onto his chest. "Because, think about it..."

"What?"

"I'm not really gone, I'm just not here right no..." He stopped moving.

I just continued to hold him, hoping he would finish, but in the back of my mind, I knew he was gone. He was gone, and I had been unable to keep my promise. I threw my head back and wailed. My entire body hurt, but most of all, my heart hurt. My best friend was dead. I just sat there crying for the longest time and I never noticed when the man who had killed Bastion ran away.

It wasn't until later that we were found by Yang and the others. By that point it was dark out and Bastion's body was cold. I was sitting next to him, my head against my knees. I was covered in blood and pissed off at the world.

"Ruby? What happened? Are you okay?"

I looked up and saw Weiss crouched down in front of me. She looked horrified.

I didn't answer. She place her arms around me and held me as Professor Noro and the others began policing the area. After a few moments I looked at her and spoke.

"He's gone, Weiss... He's really gone."

She held me tighter as I began to cry again. "I know, it's going to be okay, Ruby. I promise we'll find out who did this, and we'll make them pay for his death."

* * *

 **-2 Years Later-**

 **3rd Person POV**

A lone woman stood on the docks of Mistral City Harbor. She wore a black blouse, a black waist cincher with red lacing and a skirt with red trimmings, completed by a red, hooded cloak. On her right hand was a black glove with a small tube sticking out of the top, while her left hand was covered by a red glove; the red glove had a silver metal symbol that resembled a rose. Her head was covered by her hood and she stood with the demeanor of one who was determined to find answers.

A ringing noise sounded of, and the figure reached into a pocket and pulled out a scroll.

"What?" she said calmly.

 _"Are you there yet?"_

"Yes, I'm here. Are you sure this is where the trail leads?"

 _"Yeah. Are you sure about this? There's no going back, if we do this."_

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm going to find her and make her pay for his death."

 _"Okay. Be careful, sis. We'll be there soon."_

The figure ended the call and placed the scroll back into her pocket. She then pushed on the tube that extended from the glove and caught a metal pole that flew out. The object began to transform into a large red and black scythe. The main portion of the blade shimmered in the moonlight as a metal insignia of a thornbush was exposed to the air. She waited for the parts to stop moving and then began walking into the city.

"Okay, Bastion. Let's go find Salem."

* * *

 **Holy hell...**

 **Now, like I said before, this is NOT what really happens in the story. This is an alternate ending for chapter 7. Now, if some people like it enough, I will think about doing a spin-off story based upon this chapter. But, as of now, I want to see how this does before I decide.**

 **Anyways, thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


	13. Unexpected Allies

A/N: In this chapter I will be introducing the next of Team BOBY. His name is Brandon Whitewolf, he is the 4th and final member of the team that have introduced. The other 3 have already been revealed. I will leave their identities for you to determine.

Bastion's POV

I was sitting in the library, looking up some information about the many properties of Grimm. So far I had learned about the properties of the hard bone-like formations that encased their bodies. They apparently were harder than most metals, and grew larger as the Grimm aged, with more and more formations appearing about every 4 months. I had also learned that, while it was a very small amount, all Grimm had some blood. But they didn't bleed when injured. The only recorded times that blood had ever been seen from them was when it had been extracted.

How the hell is that possible? If the only way is to extract it, then how is my DNA half human and half Grimm?

I closed the browser and looked down at my arms. I sighed as I stood up and began walking towards the exit. Then as I opened the door, my scroll started ringing. It was Ruby.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Bastion, where are you?" Ruby asked.

"I'm at the library, why?"

"Professor Ozpin wanted you to come and see him. He didn't say why."

I sighed. "Alright, I'll head to his office, then. Thanks, Ruby," I said.

"You're welcome, I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, bye," I said as I hung up the call.

I put my scroll back into my pocket and started walking towards Professor Ozpin's office. I had no idea why Ozpin would want to see me. I wasn't scheduled to train today, and I hadn't had a single 'incident' in weeks. I finally reached the front entrance of the main building and started towards Beacon Tower. As I walked I looked up at the bright green glow of the tower. In the past few days I had learned that most people saw the tower as a symbol of hope. It's radiance could be seen from the eastern residential districts of Vale, making it a majestic sight to behold. It made me feel like I was an actual Hunter, instead of whatever the hell I actually was.

I walked into the CCT and made my way to Professor Ozpin's office. The elevator ride was long and boring but when I reached the top and the doors opened, I noticed another man in the office. He was wearing a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie, suit pants that shared the same color as his overcoat and that were tucked into silver boots accented in gray. On his right hand was a white glove, which I thought was kind of odd.

"Oz, you and I both know why I brought those men," The man said to the Headmaster.

Took a drink of his coffee and sets down his mug. "We are in a time of peace. Shows of power like this are just going to give off the wrong impression."

By this point, I had exited the elevator and was standing a few feet behind the man. Professor Ozpin had nodded in my direction when he had noticed me, but still continued his conversation.

"But if what Qrow said is true..."

"If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it tactfully. It's the Vytal Festival. A time to celebrate unity and peace. So I suggest that you not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

The man lowered his head a bit at what Ozpin said. "I'm just being cautious..."

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the best Huntsmen and Huntresses we can."

The man turned towards the exit and froze as his eyes met mine. He stared at me a moment before continuing his conversation. "Believe me, I am. But ask yourself this: Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

He left the room by way of the elevator and I turned to face Ozpin again.

"I hope they never have to..."

"Sir... what did he mean when he asked if you believed we could win a war?" I asked as I stared at Ozpin.

Ozpin looked at me a moment before he turned and stood from his chair. He then walked over to the large window and stared outside. "It's nothing to concern yourself with. After all, Mr. Ranger, you have enough to worry about as it is."

"Okay... Well, Ruby said that you wanted to see me, sir."

Ozpin turned back around, his face somewhat cheerier and he smiled. "Yes, please have a seat," he said as he gestured to a chair in front of his desk. "Now, I have some questions for you."

I took a seat then rested my hands on the edge of his desk. "Okay, what's up?"

"Well, first of all, how have you been doing? In regards to controlling your rage?"

"It's been easier, I guess," I sighed and looked away. "Why?"

"Well, as your headmaster, it is my job to make sure you are doing okay."

"But, surely I'm not the only student who is having problems right now. Why would you be wanting to talk to me?"

Ozpin cocked his head to the side, then began typing a few commands into the keyboard on his desk. "Let's cut to the chase then, shall we?" Three images appeared above his desk. Among the images was a picture of me. There were two other kids that I didn't recognize, but they both looked like students.

"Who are these people?" I asked.

"Hopefully, they will soon be your new teammates, Mr. Ranger," Ozpin said as he continued to type. One of the images enlarged and showed a kid with orange hair and a long scar down the left side of his face. He had green eyes, and a smug grin. He was standing in front of a pile of Beowulf bodies blowing smoke away from the tips of two revolvers. The kid wore a bright orange t-shirt with a pair of blue jeans, which had holes above the knees.

"Oringo Jarvis, he's from Signal Academy. He graduated at the top of his class last semester with many recommendations to attend Beacon. He has a bit of a temper, but he was known to be able to keep a level head during his time at the school," Ozpin paused and looked at me before he enlarged the next image.

The next picture was of a shorter boy with white hair and hazel colored eyes. He was wearing a red and blue striped jacket with a blue t-shirt underneath, as well as a pair of khakis. He was leaning back in a chair laughing while holding what appeared to be a retractable baton.

"Bond Whitley, an interesting boy, to say the least. He also graduated from Signal last semester, but not as high as did. He has a very high stamina and is a very energetic boy, however he tends to get caught up in the heat of battle, but he is a very resilient fighter."

It was a few moments before either of us spoke, I was busy examining the pictures and information in front of me. After about three minutes or so, I finally spoke.

"So, let me get this straight. You want me, the ticking time bomb of Grimm and Human DNA, to become a part of a team? When you and I both know how badly it could end?"

"Yes. After all, the only reason that you were able to remain a part of Ms. Rose's team, is because there weren't any additional students to join you with. But now that the semester is starting again, there are plenty of students who can fill that role. And besides, I have a good feeling that these boys will do you some good."

I stood up from my chair and stared at Ozpin. "How, how are they supposed to do me some good? Based upon what you just told me, they're as unstable as I am; I'm sorry, but I don't see how they're supposed to help me."

Ozpin sighed as he took a drink of his coffee again. "Bastion... I know you are still having trouble with controlling yourself, and that is precisely why I want to put you in a team. Eventually, you're not going to be able to rely on Ms. Rose for help. You need to learn how to rely on others, and that is why I have already made the necessary adjustments for this team to be formed."

My jaw dropped at that. "Wait, so you already made the team? Before you talked to me about it?"

"Yes, I am your headmaster after all. The only reason I asked to speak with you about this matter, is so that you were informed beforehand. But, I have good news. You are going to be the leader of this team."

"Okay... but there is only one problem with your plan," I said as I took my seat again. "There are only three people shown here. And most teams are comprised of four members; who's going to be the fourth?" I asked.

Ozpin smiled as a notification popped onto his desk. It said 'ACCESS REQUESTED.' "Ah, yes. Perfect timing. One moment." Ozpin stood up as I heard the elvator door open up behind me. "Welcome to Beacon Academy, Mr. Yellowolf."

I turned and saw a man in a leather tuxedo with a blue bowtie, a red fedora, and a pair of black leather dress pants. He was walking casually across the room and ws smiling. "How do you do, Headmaster Ozpin."

I stood up from my chair and glared at the man. I reached for my gauntlet on my right hand, but Ozpin walked over and placed his hand on it. "Calm down, Bastion. He's a friend."

I looked at Ozpin is shock and pulled away as I readied my scythe. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realize. He's your pal, is he? Your chum? Do you have any idea what that bastard almost did to me _and_ Ruby?"

 **(Author's Note: Sorry, I had to, I thought that the reference to Halo: Combat Evolved would make this part better...)**

"Mr Ranger! Calm yourself. I am well aware of what this man has done. After all, he and I have been in contact for quite some time. Now, please put your weapon away."

I did as I was told and put my scythe away, but I remained staring at the man who had tried to kill Ruby and kidnapped me.

"Well, that went about as well as I thought it would," the man said as he grinned at me. "How's it going kiddo?"

"What are you doing here?" I said, glaring at the man.

"He is here, because he is going to be your fourth teammate."

I turned to face Ozpin again, who was now holding his coffee mug. "WHAT!? Are you insane?!"

"No. This man is in desperate need of training, and I have offered him a deal."

"And what would that be?"

"The deal is, if I attend this academy for training as a Hunter, then you're headmaster here won't inform the authorities of what I did to you or your girlfriend..."

I quickly snapped my head in the direction of the man and glared at him. "I wasn't asking you."

"He's right. I promised him that I would keep quiet, if he attended the school."

"Fine... But I'm not going to like it..." I said as I made my way over to the large window.

"You don't have to like it, you just need to give him a chance. I'm sure that, after getting to know him, you will eventually warm up to him,"Ozpin said from behind me.

"Whatever," I turned beck around, my arms still crossed and stared at the man. "Well, if we're going to be teammates, what am I supposed to call you?"

"Call me Ying, old buddy, old pal," the man said with a huge grin.

"Okay, first things first, I'm not your buddy. So never call me that again."

Ozpin laughed at me and then returned to his desk. "So, it's settled. You will be forming the newest team here at Beacon Academy, Team Bobby..."

"Team Bobby? Really? That's not even a color." I said as I chuckled to myself.

"I like it," Ying said from behind me.

"Good lord, you're going to get on my nerves..." I said as I made my way to the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Ozpin asked me.

"I'm going to lunch, I'm hungry and I have a headache. And _he_ isn't helping," I said as the doors closed.

* * *

 **1 1/2 Hours Later**

 **-Blake's POV-**

* * *

I had been sitting in my team's dorm thinking about the night of the robbery when I heard footsteps approaching the door. At first, I thought that they were just the footsteps of someone who was just passing by, but then I they stopped right in front of the door.

 _Knock, knock, knock, knock._

I sighed and hopped off of my bed. I yawned and scratched my ears before making my way over to the door and opening it. I was surprised to see Bastion standing outside.

"B-bastion, what are you doing? This is your dorm, you don't have to knock, you know."

"Yeah, well. I have a feeling that it won't be my dorm much longer..." He sighed and looked down at his feet. "Can I come in?"

I nodded and opened the door. "Y-yeah, of course." I let Bastion in and closed the door before making my way back to my bed and sitting down. Bastion had taken a seat on his old beanbag chair and was curled up with his knees against his chest, he looked upset about something and was glaring at the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"No, not really..." he said without looking up.

"What's wrong?"

He was quiet for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and looked up at me. "Remember when I was attacked in Forever Fall?"

I nodded.

"Well, the guy who attacked me, hurt Ruby, and kidnapped me is apparently going to be a part of a new team that Ozpin has cooked up."

"What? Is he crazy?" I shouted.

"That's what I said. But apparently, I need a team if I'm going to continue to attend Beacon. And that guy's going to be a member of my team," Bastion was now looking at his glove that housed his scythe.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." I said as I looked at the moon outside.

"You and me both."

I looked over towards the door as I heard a large amount of commotion coming down the hall. Then the door to my dorm burst open as the rest of my team entered the room. Yang looked upset while Ruby and Weiss were grinning.

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!" Yang groaned.

Ruby giggled at her sister. "You're just mad cuz' the new guy beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened."

I got up from my bed and started towards the door, but was stopped when Weiss yelled at me.

"Stop. Lately you've been quiet, antisocial and moody!"

I turned and saw Weiss pointing at me, while the other three people in the room stared at her.

"Uh, have you met Blake?" Yang and Bastion said in unison.

Weiss just ignored the two and continued. "Which I get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! Which quite frankly, is unacceptable! You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong!" Weiss paused and did a backflip, landing on a chair and attempted to balance herself on it precariously. "So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong!"

We all stared at Weiss, to which she responded by returning the chair to its desk and returned to stand in the center of the room.

I sighed before I finally answered. "I just- I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

"You're still thinking about Torchwick?" Ruby said as she walked over to me.

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!" I yelled while i clenched my hands into fists.

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it." Yang said confidently.

"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do!"

"Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, saving Bastion, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the four of you think that you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells!" Weiss said as she crossed her arms.

"Uh, who?" Ruby said obliviously.

Bastion facepalmed at Ruby's question, but Weiss just ignored her.

"But let me once again be the voice of reason. We're students! We're not ready to handle this sort of situation!"

Ruby cut in and raised her hand. "Well, yeah, but-"

"We're _not_ ready!"

"And we may never be ready! Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day." I pointed at the door and frowned. "They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not!"

It was quiet for a few moments before anyone said anything, but then I noticed Ruby in the corner of the room, next to Bastion, making a few hand gestures and then she made a face of pure craziness.

"Okay, all in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly taking down a corrupt organization conspiring against the Kingdom of Vale... say aye!"

"Yes! I love it when you're feisty!" Yang said as she pumped up her fists.

Everyone else stared at Ruby in disbelief. Obviously she hadn't really listened to the conversation that had just been had.

"Well, I suppose it could be fun..." Weiss said.

"Aye, you can count me in!" Bastion said as he stood up from his beanbag chair.

"Alright then, we're in this together!" I said smiling.

"I like how I was the only one who actually said 'aye'." Bastion said chuckling.

"That's cause you're awesome," Ruby said as she gave him a high-five. She then looked back at all of us. "Alright, let's hatch ourselves a plan."

"Yeah!" Yang cheered.

Ruby suddenly gasped and her eyes grew huge. "Oh, no! I left my board game in the library."

"We're doomed..." Weiss said, facepalming.

"I'll go get it. It's your Remnant board game, right?" Bastion asked as he headed towards the door.

"Yeah, thanks," Ruby said sheepishly.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Bastion said as he left.

* * *

 **-Bastion's POV-**

* * *

As I left Team RWBY's dorm, I started running and totally wasn't paying attention when I ran into somebody. I fell on my butt and shook my head, then looked up to see a two women and a man staring at me. They were all wearing Haven Academy uniforms.

"O-oh crap, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" I said to the woman I had ran into. She had green hair and dark red eyes.

"I'm fine." She extended her hand to me and helped me up. "Just watch where you're going."

"R-right, sorry." I brushed myself off and then introduced myself. "I'm, uh, Bastion. I haven't seen you around before, are you new?"

The woman with the green hair stepped past me and another woman, who looked vaguely familiar, stepped in front of me. She had hazel colored eyes and black hair. She smiled as she spoke.

"Visiting from Haven, actually."

I stared at her for a few seconds, while she stared back.

"Okay... you guys must be here for the Vytal festival, right?"

The woman smiled at me and nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, well you're in the wrong dorm building. Exchange students have their own dorm, it's just next door." I explained as I pointed to the right.

"Well, we must've gotten turned around," she said as the three of them started walking away.

"It happens to the best of us. See you around." As the three exchange students continued down the hall, I couldn't help but feel like I knew the girl with the hazel colored eyes, but I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why. I decided to let it go, and continued on my way to the library.

* * *

 **There's chapter 13 for you guys. Sorry that I took so long getting this one up, I've been sick with a case of the stomach flu, and I was also taking some time to update my other two Fanfics.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please feel free to leave me a review your feedback helps immensely.**

 **Anyways...**

 **As Always,**

 **I'll See You Starside,**

 **Soul's Release**


End file.
